Assassin's Creed - War of the Interwar (PAUSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)
by TheKaizoku
Summary: The year is 1923 and the Great War has ended. However, that doesn't mean that the Assassin-Templar War has. Master Assassin Darko Kerzhakov, now twenty-seven, embarks on another journey to aid the Assassins and greaten their power and influence. If you liked the story or have any comments, please review, favourite and follow.
1. Chapter 1

It was late February, 1923, and the snow was in the midst of melting away. World War I had ended years ago yet peace had not fallen on this world. The Prohibition Era was in full swing in the United States and the National Fascist Party in Italy, secretly a Templar-backed organisation, was rapidly gaining power.

Darko Kerzhakov, now twenty seven years old, had spent the last few years in the city of Bern, de facto capital of Switzerland. Most of the time Darko shyed away from combat missions, usually only taking on administrative work for the Assassins.

A stack of letters was on his desk, waiting to be read. In the evening, after having dinner, Darko proceeded to read the letters one by one.

Halfway through the stack, a letter caught his eye. It was from a certain Alvin 'Sassin' Seymour, whose name and nickname sounded very American, but the letter's origin was Italy. Opening the letter, Darko started to read what was inside.

"Dear Darko, this is your older brother, Nikolai. It's been a while, hasn't it? I write to you not for chit-chat, but to request your urgent assistance," Darko read aloud. "Frank Gatti, whom I'm very sure you know, has been arrested in Palermo by Cesare Mori, a Templar known by the moniker of Iron Prefect. We are certain that Frank will be sentenced to death, thus we need your urgent intervention."

Getting up, Darko headed for his car, a 1922 Essex, which was parked in the garage of his house. It was time for an overnight drive.

Roughly two hours later, Darko arrived outside Zurich Airport. Darko owned a small hangar within the airport, which he had purchased with earnings from his businesses, which contained a Junker F.13, his personal aircraft.

Using a telephone box outside the airport, Darko contacted an acquaintance of his, George Dayton, a middle-aged American Assassin who had migrated and settled down in Zurich.

"George, I need you to come over to the airport quickly. I need your help," Darko simply said before hanging up.

Ten minutes later George arrived. "What's the problem, Darko?"

"I need you to fly me to Italy. The Italian Assassins need my help urgently, particularly in Sicily," Darko explained.

"I suppose I could get the plane in the air by midnight. If things go according to schedule we'll be in Catania Airport at about three in the morning," George said. "Hurry, let's get to the hangar."

Everything went according to plan and the Junker F.13 landed in Catania just before three in the morning. Luckily George had some contacts in Catania so Darko was able to rent a pickup truck to drive to Palermo.

At eight in the morning Darko reached Frank's house in Palermo, also the base of Assassins in the city. Nikolai, his older brother, though only four years older than Darko, seemed to be over a decade older than him. That was because over the past few years Nikolai had been active throughout Italy helping the Assassins, thus looking much older.

"Nikolai! It's been a while!" the two siblings embraced each other in a hug.

"Come in, come in," Nikolai said. "You must be George Dayton, a pleasure to meet you."

"I should be the one saying that, Master Assassin," George said with a grin as he shook Nikolai's hand. Nikolai had been promoted to the rank of Master Assassin about three years ago, so now he was of the same rank as Darko.

Inside, they sat round the table in the living room, drinking coffee. "You two are here because you've seen my letter, I take it?"

Darko nodded. "Where is Frank?"

"God, we don't know. The situation here in Italy is just terrible," Nikolai said with a sigh. "Italy is infested with Templars! Fellow Assassins and allies across the country are disappearing by the day. The lucky ones are sentenced to life imprisonment. The not-so-lucky ones, well, they die."

"But Frank will most likely be sentenced to execution, no?" Darko asked.

Nikolai replied, "Most probably. But it depends whether news of the execution will spread to the public. We're depending on that to learn of Frank's location."

On midday of the same day, news spread that Francis Guercino, a prominent wine seller, was to be executed for 'treason' on the very next morning. The Assassins guessed that the Templars thought by announcing the news such a short time before the execution the Assassins would not be able to retaliate. How wrong they were.

The next morning, Darko was perched on the top of a building overlooking the square where Frank's execution would be held. George was sitting in a pickup truck in a nearby alleyway, acting as the getaway driver. Nikolai was also in the pickup truck, but he would be the one rescuing Frank. The three of them had been there since last evening and had spent the night there.

Civilians were pouring into the square by the dozen, wanting to catch a glimpse of the latest unfortunate about to be executed.

At around eight thirty in the morning, a convoy of three military vehicles, with the van containing Frank in the middle, arrived at the square.

Four Italian soldiers escorted Frank, who had been handcuffed and blindfolded, to the makeshift platform in the middle of the square. A fifth soldier, an officer, made a speech to the crowd as Frank was escorted into position.

"This man here, Francis Guercino, was caught doing one of the worst crimes that can be committed. Mister Guercino was working with rebels to break the fragile peace of this country," the officer said. "Benito Mussolini, head of the government, has demanded that this man be made an example of, so others don't follow his footsteps."

Darko, armed with a M91 Mosin-Nagant, opened fire on the group of soldiers. Right after the first round was shot, Nikolai bolted into the square, heading right for the stage. Darko shot dead two more soldiers before Nikolai made it onto the stage.

Releasing his Hidden Blade, Nikolai slashed the officer, who was the nearest enemy, across the chest. As the officer toppled Nikolai ran for the remaining two soldiers, young foolish lads who were protecting the prisoner with their lives instead of fleeing. Nikolai knocked the two of them unconscious before freeing Frank.

"Nikolai, by the gods, it's you," Frank said. "I really thought I would die here!"

When Nikolai and Frank got to the pickup truck, Darko was already there and Frank had started the engine. Frank sat in the passenger seat while Nikolai got on the back with Darko.

Police cars sealed off the exit points of the square and policemen ensured that no one got in or out. But it was too late as the perpetrators were already long gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Returning to the house, Frank, Darko, Nikolai and George chatted inside. Apparently George and Frank had heard of each other but had never met in person.

"This man here is one of the finest pilots I know," Frank praised George.

"I'm one of the only pilots you know," George said with a laugh.

Frank laughed as well. "But I'm not exaggerating. Darko. This man used to work with Wright Company and Chalk's Flying Service in the United States before migrating to Switzerland."

Darko raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You'll have to tell me that story one day, George."

"Where will you go, Frank? Remaining in Italy is near suicide," Nikolai asked. "I'm able to remain here, but you must leave Italy."

George agreed with Nikolai. "How about Britain? The Assassins have a strong presence there, and you can continue serving the Brotherhood without as much worry for your safety."

"Darko, you've been to Britain before, haven't you? Tell me more what it's like," Frank requested.

"That was years ago, during the war as well. But I could tell it was a decent place to live in. Assassins have managed to infiltrate all walks of English society. An example is Sam Crowder, husband of the leader of the British Assassins, Dame Lydia Frye. Formerly a soldier, Sam now works as a Chief Inspector for the Metropolitan Police Service."

"Seems like a good place to stay," Frank said. "Alright then, I'll proceed to Britain."

Departing from Catania, the Junker F.13 made one stop in Paris-Le Bourget airport to refuel before finishing the journey at Croydon Airport in London.

The British Assassins' headquarters in London was a curio shop formerly owned by Jayadeep Mir aka Henry Green. Lydia Frye was waiting for them when they entered.

"It's been a good while, Darko Kerzhakov," Lydia said. "You've certainly gone far since the last time we met."

"You flatter me," Darko said. "Anyway, this man here is Frank Gatti, fleeing capture in Italy."

After chatting for a few more minutes, the Assassins dispersed. While George led Frank to his accommodation, located elsewhere in the city, Darko went somewhere else.

That 'somewhere else' was the Port of London on the River Thames. Darko saw the SS De Molay in the distance, with crates currently being loaded on board. Lydia had informed him that those crates were loaded with alcohol and the SS De Molay, obviously owned by Templars, was heading for the United States, where alcohol was currently prohibited.

Having been given a pouch filled with sticks of dynamite, Darko managed to get on the steamship undetected and began planting dynamite sticks around the ship.

Once all the dynamite had been planted, Darko ignited all of them starting from the ones at the bottom of the ship. By the time he lit the final dynamite stick on the main deck the ones on the bottom floor were starting to go off.

Seeing the private guards rush up the gangway, Darko jumped off the ship into the water and swam back to shore. Climbing out of the water, Darko saw the ship in flames, the fire spreading uncontrollably due to all the alcohol on board.

Returning to the curio shop, Darko reported to Lydia his successful mission. But it turned out that Lydia already knew that the job had been completed.

"You just mobilised a good portion of the fire brigade. If you look carefully in the distance right now you can see the flames coming from the SS De Molay," Lydia said. "That should teach the Templars not to attempt to smuggle goods, especially alcohol. Thank you for your help, Darko."

All was peaceful for the next few weeks or so and Darko was even able to do some business in the country. April soon arrived and Darko was needed once again.

"Spanish Assassins have reported that General Miguel Primo de Rivera has formulated a plan to take over Spain," Lydia informed Darko and George. "That wouldn't be as much as a problem if General de Rivera wasn't the Grandmaster of the Spanish Rite of the Templar Order, one of the largest Templar Rites in the world."

"What is the situation like exactly? I hear there's an ongoing war between Spain and Berbers. The Rif War, I think it's called. Does that play a part in General de Rivera's plan?" George queried.

Lydia nodded in answer. "General de Rivera plans to use the ongoing war in Africa to cause a 'political earthquake' in his home country. In the midst of all the chaos and confusion caused by this earthquake General de Rivera will take over the government."

"Ah, I remember. Melilla is likely where we have to be. I remember reading that the city was not attacked for fears of intervention by other countries, since citizens of many other European countries," George suggested.

"You certainly know a lot, Mister Dayton," Lydia praised. "You are correct, Melilla is where I planned to send you and Darko to. In Melilla you two will meet up with Master Assassin Johnny Guvera, a prominent weapons dealer from Brazil."

The Junker F.13 landed in Málaga Airport a day after leaving London. From Malaga Darko and George took a ferry to Melilla.

Johnny Guvera had a beard which made him look like an action movie star. He was dressed casually, with a plain white shirt and khaki trousers on, along with a top hat to compliment his outfit.

"So you two are the backup that Miss Frye promised me," Johnny said as he examined the men. "Decent Assassins by the looks of it. My name's Johnny Guvera, pleased to meet you."

"I'm Darko Kerzhakov. This gentleman here is George Dayton," Darko introduced.

Johnny was surprised. "I'll be damned. Master Assassin Darko Kerzhakov and ace pilot George Dayton to the rescue. Hope to have a good time working with you all."

Suddenly shots rang out outside, which caused Johnny to swear and grab his shotgun, a Browning Auto-5. "If that bastard will just stop that for a month I'll be grateful. I'll explain everything to you when I get back."


	3. Chapter 3

Not wanting to stay inside and do nothing, Darko followed Johnny out. Only George, who was unarmed and bad at fighting, remained inside the building.

"What are you doing? Get back inside!" Johnny demanded.

Drawing his Luger P08 pistol, Darko refused. "I wouldn't be what I am today if I couldn't fight. I can take care of myself, I promise."

Johnny relented and told him, "Shoot every man you see that's armed and in a turban or keffiyeh regardless of skin colour."

At the end of the street, Darko encountered a trio of riflemen in keffiyehs. One of them looked a lot like a Spaniard, but Darko followed Johnny's words and shot all of them with his pistol.

Taking a turn, Darko entered a mini-warzone. Spanish soldiers were trying to defend a road blockade from a larger group of men in keffiyehs and turbans. Darko opened fire on them from behind, having the element of surprise.

Together the Spanish soldiers and Darko took down the attackers. Darko ran up to the soldiers, dressed in full battle uniform and well-armed.

"Thanks for your help!" a soldier said with gratitude. "So who are you? A mercenary, or a covert agent, or someone else?"

"If I was a covert agent I wouldn't be allowed to tell you, wouldn't I?" Darko said with a grin. "I'm just a peace-loving man. A peace-loving man with guns and combat skills. Is there anywhere else that's under heavy attack?"

Another soldier replied, "Turn around and walk down the street. At the first intersection you come upon take a left. Further down that road is a security checkpoint under attack."

"Viva Libertad," Darko said with a fist over his heart before leaving the scene.

As he walked away, the soldiers cried with spirit, "Viva Libertad!"

Following the directions given by the soldier, Darko came upon a military checkpoint that was indeed under attack. Coincidentally Johnny was also there, aiding the Spaniards in defending the checkpoint.

Not wanting to waste anymore bullets, Darko swapped his pistol for his Hidden Blade. Running into the battlefield, Darko stabbed the nearest attacker in the solar plexus. Hearing another attacker close in behind him, Darko spun around and slashed him across the chest.

A third man was taking aim at Darko but a Phantom Blade penetrated his throat before he could shoot. Darko ran over and retrieved his Phantom Blade from the dead man.

Taking a few moments to survey the battlefield, Darko spotted Johnny Guvera in melee battle with two of the attackers. But the real problem was the two men nearby aiming with their rifles. Grabbing the rifle of the man who had tried to shoot Darko earlier, Darko swiftly fired on the two men trying to kill Johnny.

Nearly at the same time Johnny finished off the two men engaging him and realised what had nearly happened. He looked over to see who had shot them and found Darko. Waving in thanks, Johnny ran off to fight more of the attackers.

In less than a minute the remaining attackers at the checkpoint were defeated. While the soldiers celebrated their minor victory, Darko and Johnny talked.

"Who are these men? I saw a Spaniard among one of them! Clearly not guerrillas of the Rif Republic," Darko asked.

Johnny cleared his throat before replying softly, "General de Rivera sends these men about once a month to cause trouble here in Melilla and other cities in Spanish Morocco. He will then accuse the Rif Republic of sending those men. That Templar thinks that he'll be able to gather support this way, a plan B if his coup plan fails."

Shaking his head in disgust, Darko said, "No wonder why he's the Grandmaster. Seems like the gunfire has died down across Melilla. This attack is over then, I presume?"

"That bastard will be back next month," Johnny said. "Come on, let's return to the safehouse."

Back at the building which Johnny called 'the safehouse', they found George in combat with a Berber. As expected George was on the losing side and would have died if Johnny did not intervene.

"Mercenaire, stand down immediately! He is an Assassin himself!" Johnny demanded.

With reluctance the Berber stopped and returned to his seat. Fortunately George had not been seriously injured, with only a few minor scrapes and bruises.

"What were you doing?" Johnny asked. "That is no way to treat a guest of ours!"  
"That man is an Assassin?" the Berber said rhetorically. "This is an insult! How could a man of his shape fight for the Assassins?"

Darko said, "Not a good fighter, I agree. But this man here is one of the best pilots in the Assassin Order."

"A flyer?" the Berber was stunned. "That is one of the things I'll never be able to do in my life. My sincerest apologies, fellow Assassin."

Luckily George was alright and accepted the apology. "You fight viciously," George complimented. "I would've died if they hadn't come!"  
"I have to fight well for my people," the Berber said with a smile.

Johnny introduced him, "This man is Gautier Tashfin, born in Algiers. Gautier was a soldier in the French Foreign Legion before leaving to form his own mercenary corps, which mostly comprises of fellow Berbers. Hence he is known by the nickname La Mercenaire de Alger. In English that would be 'The Mercenary of Algiers'.

"Tashfin, the American is George Dayton. This man here is Master Assassin Darko Kerzhakov," Johnny told him.

Nodding, Gautier said, "General de Rivera launched another attack today, didn't he? We need to strike back, warn him that this war isn't his playground."


	4. Chapter 4

Darko and Johnny entered the Tercio de Extranjeros recruitment office in Melilla, a modest one-floor building with the Spanish flag hung proudly on it.

"Hello sirs, may I help you?" the receptionist, a middle-aged lady, asked.

Darko replied with a question, "Is Don Ignon in at the moment?"

Don Perry Ignon was a French military attaché working for the Tercio de Extranjeros, or the Spanish Legion, in Melilla. Being a fellow Templar, Don was also one of General de Rivera's men in the field.

"Mister Ignon is currently in his office. Do you have an appointment with him, may I ask?"

Johnny pointed his shotgun at the receptionist. "Is this enough to grant an appointment?"

She was clearly terrified, as evidenced by the expression in her eyes. But she managed to remain calm and not scream at the top of her lungs. "Yes…yes sir. His office is on…on the first floor."

"If anyone asks, two men did not come looking for Don Perry Ignon today, alright?" Darko said.

The receptionist nodded in reply.

Entering the office, Johnny said, "Mister Ignon, a pleasure to meet you! You don't need to know who we are, but you should know who sent us."

"Who would that be?" Don asked calmly as he gestured for them to sit, despite one of them having a shotgun in his hand.

"General de Rivera of course," Darko answered, slamming the table with a fist. "Yesterday's attack, there were Assassins present to stop the General's forces. How is he to gather support if his own soldiers can't even stop a small attack and need help from outsiders?"

"Assassins? There…there are Assassins in the city?" the attaché was surprised. "I didn't know of this, I swear!"

"Do you think we care?" Johnny said menacingly. "You're lucky he sent us. If it were someone else you would be dead already."

"Don't…don't worry. Tell General de Rivera I'll get right down to work in identifying the Assassins!" Don promised.

"Oh, it's not just identification he wants. He wants them dead," Darko said. "You understand what I'm driving at?"

Don nodded. "I'll get right down to it."

Johnny produced a small wine bottle and placed it on the table. "This is an incentive from General de Rivera to make you do your work faster. Make sure you drink it up."

"No problem!" Johnny opened the bottle and took a gulp from it. "Oh god, is…is this even wine?"

"The cheapest we could find," Johnny chuckled. "The Assassins send their regards."

Almost immediately Don began panicking. He started gasping greedily for air, making strangulated sounds as he did so. Meanwhile, Johnny grabbed a slip of paper and began forging a suicide note.

Just as Johnny finished writing, Don slumped over, lifeless. Johnny left the slip of paper on the table and the two Assassins left the room.

However, their job was not done yet. Don Ignon was not the only Templar they had to kill that day. General de Rivera also had an entire company of soldiers loyal to him, which he planned to utilise if things ever got dirty. The company was under the leadership of a Capitán named Josef Domingo, a Templar himself.

Coincidentally, Capitán Domingo was in the nearby port city of Ceuta under orders of the Grandmaster Templar himself. Darko and Johnny would ensure that it would be an order General de Rivera would regret.

Ceuta was relatively safer than Melilla, having more military presence in the city and lesser divide amongst the citizens. Gautier Tashfin, who had informed them of Josef's existence and relations, reported that his official duty in Ceuta was to guard the Port of Ceuta, an important location to the Spaniards.

As expected they found Josef Domingo in the port, patrolling along with a couple of soldiers from his company. Both Assassins were eyeing Josef's every move from the roof of a building facing the port, armed with scoped Mosin-Nagants.

After a few minutes of spying, they found Josef standing on a section of the boardwalk right next to the water, lighting a cigar. Johnny hastily took aim and shot Josef.

Soldiers hastily combed the area, searching for the unfortunate who had been shot. However, they found no casualty, as the only casualty was at the bottom of the Mediterranean, a bullet hole at the back of his head.

Several hours later, General Miguel Primo de Rivera was furious to learn that two of his Templars, the military attaché Don Perry Ignon and Capitán Josef Domingo were dead. Don had apparently committed suicide while Josef had simply disappeared after a single shot was fired from an unknown nearby location.

The ordinary man would link it as a coincidence for two men with links to the Spanish military to die on the same day in the same country. But General de Rivera was no ordinary man. He was Grandmaster of the Spanish Templars and one of the most powerful military figures in Spain.

"Call for the arrest of Johnny Guvera immediately!" General de Rivera ordered. He placed a photograph on the table. "This is what he looks like. Now go!"


	5. Chapter 5

In the cover of night, a small platoon of soldiers from the 1st Legion Tercio regiment surrounded the building where Johnny Guvera was known to be staying in. They had been told to expect the enemy to have some light support. But 'light support' was an understatement for the three Assassins currently living with him.

Gautier Tashfin, the Berber mercenary, was on guard on the rooftop when he spotted the soldiers getting into position. Silently he returned into the building and informed the rest of what was going on.

"How are we going to stop them?" George asked.

Darko suggested, "I imagine these men as trained killers who know where are the strategic positions in this building. Naturally they'll head for these positions first. How about we hide ourselves in places considered 'non-strategic' to them, and take them out silently?"

"Cunning, I like it," Gautier said.

Johnny agreed. "Quick, let's get into position. It won't be long before those guys come charging in."

Entering the building, the squad of soldiers fanned out, splitting up into smaller groups of three to search. Darko, who was hiding behind a desk in a study, was the first to encounter the soldiers.

Firing a Phantom Blade at the furthest soldier, Darko hopped over the desk and thrust his Hidden Blade into the second soldier's chest. The third soldier, raising his rifle, never got a chance to fire as Darko snatched his rifle and stabbed him with its bayonet.

Gautier Tashfin was the next to encounter the soldiers. Two three-man squads entered the basement, where Gautier was lying in wait. He had somehow managed to perch himself upside down above the doorway. Landing silently on the floor, Gautier released both his Hidden Blades and charged at the six soldiers, whose backs were all facing him.

Stabbing two soldiers in the back at the same time, Gautier quickly forced his Hidden Blades out before slashing another two soldiers. The last two soldiers swung around and raised their rifles instinctively, but Gautier merely danced around to their exposed backs and killed them.

"That was exhilarating," Gautier muttered to no one in particular. "It's been a while since I've had this much fun."

George, despite being non-combat fit, was proficient with a blowpipe. It was a small but handy tool which had saved George more times than he could count.

When the three-man squad burst into the bedroom, they were surprised to find a lone American standing there. There seemed to be blood all over his clothes, and he had some kind of small tube in his mouth.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of the three soldiers asked. "There's blood all over you."

Firing a berserk dart into the soldier that had asked the question, George replied, "I'm fine, but you're not. By the way, it's not blood, but tomato ketchup on my clothes."

Simultaneously, the soldier lost his mind and began attacking his comrades. George watched as the crazed soldier killed his comrades, before he himself died once the effects of the dart wore off.

The last two three-man squads converged on the main bedroom in the building, where Johnny Guvera was supposed to be sleeping in. They were not disappointed, as Johnny appeared to be sleeping soundly in bed, hugging what seemed to be a bolster.

"Put your hands up!" a soldier demanded.

In the blink of an eye Johnny got up and grabbed the 'bolster', which was actually his Browning Auto-5, and shot dead all but one of the soldiers.

"Put your hands up," Johnny said mockingly as he reloaded his shotgun lazily.

The soldier had no choice but to comply. Dropping his rifle, the soldier knelt on the floor with his hands in the air. Soon the other Assassins entered the room.

"This isn't good," Johnny informed them. "This soldier here claims that there are reinforcements outside, ready to ambush any of us if we manage to get out."

All of them glanced at the soldier, who was bleeding and a good portion of his skin was bright red. "What do we do now?" George queried.

Gautier suggested, "Disguise ourselves as the soldiers and get out of here. But we need to do it quickly, before the snipers outside get suspicious."

Knocking the last soldier unconscious, his uniform was stripped and donned on by Darko. The others took from other soldiers whose uniforms were not as blood-stained or had no blood on it at all.

Minutes later, four soldiers walked out the front of the building, clutching their rifles. By then the backup soldiers had abandoned their ambush positions and were surrounding the house.

"What took you so long? And where are the others?" a sniper asked.

Darko shook his head. "It was very bad. Johnny had some friends with him, and they quietly took us out one-by-one. By the time we realised it we were the only ones left. We barely escaped with our lives."

"Were any of the targets killed?"

George, who was pretending to be wounded in the abdomen, nodded. "I managed to kill one of them in the building. Russian by the looks of it, with some strange-looking blade on him."

The sniper's eyes widened at hearing George's words. "If that is who I think you've killed, I believe you've earned yourself a big promotion. I'll go in personally and investigate. But at the moment you should recuperate. It seems that you were shot in the stomach."

"A couple of minutes with the medic should be all it takes," George said.

Summoning a small group of soldiers, the sniper, who seemed to be quite senior, rushed into the building with them. Meanwhile, the four Assassins left the scene unmolested due to their uniforms.


	6. Chapter 6

Fortunately there was another Assassin base in Melilla. It was virtually unidentifiable as an Assassin base except for the ornate door knockers on the front door shaped like the Assassin insignia.

Using the door knocker, Johnny created a certain rhythm with it. They waited for a few seconds before the door was answered by an elderly man.

"Johnny, is that you? It's been a long while!" the man was surprised and smiling. "Seems that you've brought friends here to my house. Come in, come in!"

While walking past the old man, Darko noticed the Assassin symbol imprinted into his walking stick.

Inside, the five men sat around a table in the living room and chatted.

"These men are Assassins as well, Mentor," Johnny informed him.

"My sense of sight might not be good, Johnny, but my Eagle Sense is still as strong as ever. And how many times have I told you that I'm not the Mentor anymore? I retired years ago, for god's sake!"

"My sincerest apologies," Johnny made a mischievous smile before adding, "Mentor."

The man sighed before turning to the other Assassins. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Dhamir Vaswani, former Mentor of the Spanish Assassins. All of you but the American seem to have Hidden Blade on, but I see an Assassin blowpipe on the American."

Darko had heard of his name once before. Dhamir was the first Indian to be the Mentor of the Spanish Assassin Brotherhood. He possessed a unique form of Eagle Sense, the mastered form of Eagle Vision. Dhamir was able to detect weapons aside from the standard abilities of Eagle Sense.

"My name's George, George Dayton."

"Gautier Tashfin."

"Darko Kerzhakov."

"So why are there so many Assassins here? Did something happen?"

"My base was attacked by soldiers in the dead of the night," Johnny explained. "General Miguel Primo de Rivera plans to take control of Spain for the Templars, and he deems that we are getting in the way. Hence he sent some soldiers to get rid of us."

"General de Rivera is a dangerous man," Dhamir agreed. "He holds a lot of power, mostly in the form of the Spanish Army. If he succeeds in conquering Spain, General de Rivera will be even more dangerous and difficult to take down."

"I believe the Assassins in mainland Spain are efficient enough to take care of that," Gautier said. "We believe that the ongoing Rif War is a key part of General de Rivera's coup plan. Recently many of General de Rivera's men have fallen, and it is likely being too much for him to handle, as evidenced by the soldiers' attack."

"Then continue taking down his men," Dhamir said. "If you keep up with it sooner or later General de Rivera will be forced to intervene."

Following the former Mentor's advice, the Assassins continued to take down General de Rivera's men in the region. Their next target was Malvin Guinto, the sniper they had encountered outside the building during the attack.

Originally from the Philippines, Malvin had fled the country when the Spanish-American War broke out. He subsequently joined the Tercio de Extranjeros and became one of its best sharpshooters, his rapid rise in rank attributed to his links to the Templar Order.

Malvin also doubled as a sniping trainer in the Tercio training academy just outside nearby Nador. The city was where many soldiers from the academy went to drink after a tough day. Darko, Gautier and Johnny made their way there to find Malvin.

Along with several other Tercios, Malvin was drinking in one of the most popular bars in town. Darko and Gautier entered the bar while Johnny kept watch outside.

"Señor Guinto!" Darko called out.

One of the soldiers, Malvin, looked around to see who had called him. Malvin did not know who those two men were but in his half-drunk state, he thought they were people he knew, but exactly whom he had no idea.

"Come here!" Malvin slurred. "Waiter, get a drink for those two gentlemen! I'll pay."

Sitting at the table, Darko said, "Señor, this is no time to drink. The Grandmaster is here and wishes to meet you."

"De Rivera is in the region?" Malvin said less loudly. "Is it because so many of his men have been killed, and he wants to ensure my safety?"

"You're a smart one," Gautier praised. "Let's just hope your intelligence will keep you safe from those damned Assassins. Let us not keep the Grandmaster waiting, shall we?"

If Malvin had not been drunk, he would have thought twice of trusting them. But he was half-drunk and could not think straight. Thus, Malvin agreed and followed the two Assassins out of the bar and into the pickup waiting outside.

Driving back to Melilla, Johnny stopped the truck in an alleyway. Gautier suddenly grabbed Malvin's arms, restraining him while Darko released his Hidden Blade.

"What the hell?" Malvin said, still half-drunk and not finished taking it all in.

A sharp pain shot up Malvin's thigh. Another jolt of pain, though this time not as painful, shot up his thigh as Darko pulled the Hidden Blade out of his leg.

"The only time General de Rivera will meet you is at your funeral," Gautier said as George stopped the truck. "We're here."

Together the two Assassins dragged the injured Tercio off the truck and into Dhamir's house through a side door. Dhamir, who was meditating when they entered, opened his eyes and simultaneously raised an eye in surprise.

"I see you've followed my advice and captured an unfortunate Templar," Dhamir said without getting up. "So what's his story?"

"Malvin Guinto, a sharpshooter for the Tercio de Extranjeros," Johnny informed. "He has ties to the Templar Order, strong enough for him to rise up the ranks swiftly."

Once Darko and Gautier had propped Malvin up against a chair they treated and bandaged his injured thigh. Darko had stabbed Malvin's thigh earlier to lessen his chances of escaping, for the consequences would have been very bad if he managed to do so. Darko and Johnny proceeded to tie him to the chair.

"You're messing with the wrong guy. Let me free and I'll let it slide," Malvin warned.

Gautier responded by delivering a hard punch to his jaw. "We'll let you free once you're dead."

The next morning, after getting their rest, the Assassins began their interrogation.

"What is the next step in General de Rivera's plan to take over Spain?" Darko questioned.

"His plan? The next step is already underway, and you're all probably too late to stop it," Malvin said with a smirk. "Very soon the Templars will emerge triumphant and control Spain."

"Not if we can stop it," Gautier said. "In case you don't know, many of his men have fallen. Don Ignon, Josef Domingo and nearly an entire platoon of Tercios."

Malvin nodded, acknowledging their actions. "But he is a General in the Spanish Army and the Templar Grandmaster after all. In addition, the Assassins here are all but growing in power. The Spanish Crown is no longer on the Assassins' side, now that our dear King Alfonso XIII supports General de Rivera."

"You all certainly have been hard at work," Johnny said. "A pity it'll all come to naught."

"That you should tell your friends in Madrid. Sadly you'll not get the opportunity to do so," Malvin said, before realising that he had foolishly revealed the next portion of the plan. "Shit."

"Perhaps in your next life you will think before carelessly revealing information to your enemies," Dhamir said before slamming the tip of his walking stick into Malvin's forehead. There was a sickening sound as the concealed blade in the stick ejected and penetrated into his skull.


	7. Chapter 7

Darko, George, Gautier and Johnny hastily made their way to Málaga Airport, where Darko's Junker F.13 was parked. Fortunately the plane had enough space to take all of them.

Landing in Cuatro Vientos Airport in Madrid, the four of them went straight to the Peñagrande neighbourhood, where the main Assassin den in Madrid was.

Assassin bases in Madrid were all known as Assassin dens, largely due to the fact that it was the Ottoman Assassins who also called their bases dens that liberated Madrid from Templar control centuries ago.

The Peñagrande Den was a small convenience store with Spanish colonial architecture. Johnny revealed that the Den had a secret basement which few knew about, even within the Assassin Order.

When they got there, the Peñagrande Den was surrounded by policemen. The Assassins had no choice but to attack them in order to get into the building.

"Remember, stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent," Darko reminded the others as he put on his hood. "Only kill the policemen if necessary."

Rushing towards a cluster of policemen, Darko grabbed the nearest one and spun him around, before kicking him in the shin and elbowing him hard in the chest. Throwing him aside, Darko lunged at the second policeman, tackling him to the ground. Snatching his truncheon, Darko whacked him once before getting up.

Darko, who decided that he had wasted enough time, barrelled straight into the third and fourth policemen, taking them both by surprise. Before they could get up and recover, Darko continued on.

It was only around a minute after Darko entered the convenience store before the others entered as well. Johnny led them to the secret entrance into the basement, where most of the Assassins were.

As they entered, they found themselves being trained on by a good number of rifles. But upon realising who they were the rifles were lowered.

"Johnny, it's good to see you!" the leader of the bunch of Assassins said. "Only if we could've met under much more peaceful circumstances. But oh well, c'est la vie."

"Let me introduce you all to him. Meet Antonio Rovera, leader of the Peñagrande Den and Mentor of the Spanish Assassins," Johnny introduced. "Antonio, meet Darko Kerzhakov, Gautier Tashfin and George Dayton. We've come all the way to Melilla to rescue you all."

"Why did you bring good men here to die, Johnny?" Antonio asked. "Rescuing us from here is impossible. No way out of this place other than the ones blocked by policemen."

However, Johnny was not listening at all. Instead, he was searching the place, turning the place upside down. "Vaswani spoke of a secret passageway here in this very basement. After all, this place has served as the headquarters of the Assassins in Madrid for over a century, so I find the existence of this passageway likely."

"You'll definitely have to tell me that story someday," Antonio said, surprised, as he began to help Johnny to search the place. "You heard the man, start searching!"

After what seemed to be an eternity of searching, though closer to fifteen minutes than one eternity, an Assassin found a torch holder behind a bookcase, only that it was not really a torch holder, but the lever to open the secret passageway.

At the end of the passageway they found themselves in another Assassin den, though this one had been raided by the police a day ago. Fortunately, the den was empty.

"Madrid has become too dangerous for the Assassins to remain," Antonio declared. "I just hope the Assassin bases in the rest of Spain are still intact. Thank you for your assistance but the remainder of this journey we Spanish Assassins must undertake ourselves."

"Is there any way in which we could help you all?" Gautier asked.

Antonio replied, "Your work in Spanish Morocco must be continued if we want to have any chance at all in stopping the Templars. There is a Templar that you must be careful of, and that is Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Franco of the Spanish Legion. He is well-respected, even by the enemy. Native troops call him a man of Baraka, or good luck, for he managed to survive a wound that would have killed many."

"Thanks for the advice," Johnny said. "Maybe I'll treat you someday."

The journey back to Melilla became rough almost immediately once they reached Cuatro Vientos Airport, currently under heavy patrol by soldiers. It did not go well for the Assassins as they were quickly identified by the soldiers as 'rebels'.

"We'll meet up at the plane, go!" Darko told the others before running into the building.

The Assassins did not have much difficulty navigating through the airport terminal, since it was rather crowded and the soldiers did not want to injure any civilians. However, problem arose when they emerged from the terminal and onto the runway.

"Hands up!" a Sergeant commanding a squad of soldiers ordered as he raised his rifle.

In response the four Assassins raised their hands, feigning surrender. Once the soldiers were near enough, they struck.

Darko took the nearest soldier's hand and pulled it towards him, forcing the rifle from the soldier at the same time. Shoving the muzzle into the soldier's throat, Darko pushed on towards the Junker F.13.

Gautier and George's backs were pressed against one another while four soldiers circled around them. "Distract them for a moment, please," George requested softly.

Reaching into the pocket swiftly, Gautier caught the attention of the soldiers, who thought that Gautier was going to pull out a firearm. As the soldiers were distracted, George swiftly produced a blowpipe and shot a berserk dart into one of them. Without hesitation the two Assassins ran off.

Johnny was already in the airplane when Darko arrived, keeping it safe from the soldiers. Soon Gautier and George reached the plane as well.

"Shit, the runway's occupied," George told the others. "You need to clear the runway of soldiers or I won't be able to get this thing in the air."

Opening the side door, Johnny tossed a grenade at a group of soldiers. The grenade exploded but did not rain on them fragments. Instead it released lamb blood on them, making them think that they were injured.

"Blood bomb," Johnny explained. "Though much smaller now with modern technology. Gets them every time."

True enough, that particular bunch of soldiers began to scatter. Gautier added to the mayhem by firing another berserk dart from George's blowpipe.

"Wonderful," George commented. "But it's not over yet. Make sure we're not shot at in the air."  
Kicking the door open, Darko bit his lip when he saw a Nieuport 80 on the runway, preparing to take off. The biplane had a synchronised machine gun for the pilot to use and a Lewis gun on the rear cockpit for the passenger to fire.

"There's a plane going after us, and it's armed!" Darko told the others.

George swore. "Take that plane down!"

Pulling out his pistol, Darko shot the biplane's left wing thrice. The three bullets formed a small hole on the wing. Almost immediately, the biplane, which had just taken off, tilted sideways and crashed. Johnny and Gautier could not suppress a chuckle when they saw the scene unfold.

Not wanting to take the risk and land in Málaga, George landed the Junker F.13 on a relatively flat strip of ground near Melilla, parking it under a cluster of trees so that it would be difficult for people to spot the plane.

"Time to get back to work," Johnny said as he got off the plane.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the four Assassins, Darko, George, Gautier and Johnny had returned to their current base of operations in Melilla, Dhamir Vaswani had news to share with them.

"I trust your mission has gone well. No matter, I'll hear about it in time to come anyway," Dhamir said. "Oh, yes. While you were gone I received word of Templar activity coming from the harbour town of Larache. The town is considered an important site to the Spanish, so having Templar activity there is completely understandable, but the amount of Templar activity there of late is unusual. Do go and investigate as soon as possible.

The next morning, Darko set off for Larache with George. George was not actually going to be in the town itself, only flying Darko to the destination. Darko would have brought the others along but he did not want to risk alerting the Templars in the town.

Just as the town of Alcazarquivir appeared in the horizon, George shouted over the aircraft noise, "Get ready. Make sure your parachute's working. It would be unfortunate if you didn't survive your first time using a parachute."

"I'm not that unlucky," Darko said as he checked his parachute. "Tell me when to jump."

Seconds later, George gave the go-ahead. Darko jumped off the Junker F.13, his parachute on his back.

Landing on the ground successfully, Darko disposed of the parachute and walked the short distance to Alcazarquivir, which was less than fifty kilometres from Larache, his destination.

The town was filled with soldiers and military policemen from the Civil Guard, or Guardia Civil in Spanish. Checkpoints had been established on all the roads into town, all of which were manned by law enforcement agents. Darko had no choice but to abandon the rented car and enter the town on foot off-road. Patrolmen were all over town, though Darko was pretty confident that they would not be able to identify him.

Wanting to know why there were so many soldiers in town, Darko went to investigate at the local Civil Guard police station. Being an important location to the Spaniards, the Civil Guard did not have a residential garrison there, like what most towns of Larache's size had. Instead, the Civil Guard had an entire police station in town, though it was not as decked out as the ones in larger towns or cities.

Scaling up the building from its back, Darko made his way into the police station through the roof access door, which was surprisingly unlocked. Almost immediately, Darko encountered a military policeman, identifiable by his signature tricorne, who quickly drew a baton.

Tackling the policeman to the floor, Darko snatched his baton and used it to knock him unconscious before he could alert his comrades. Stripping him of his uniform, Darko hid the unconscious person in a closet and donned it. From the rank insignia displayed on the arm area of the uniform, Darko learned that the policeman he had knocked unconscious held the rank of Cabo, or Corporal. At least now he was able to get around easier.

True enough, other military policemen did not even bat an eyelid as Darko passed by. Eventually, Darko entered the office of Subtiente Carlos Sagrado, the man in charge of the gendarmerie forces in town.

"May I help you, Cabo?" Carlos asked as Darko shut the door, locking it. "And why do you have to lock the door? Do unlock it, please."

Ignoring Carlos, Darko sat down and drew his pistol, aiming it at him. "It's nearing lunch, you must be hungry, Subtiente Sagrado. It would be disappointing if you died before having lunch. Let's have a chat, shall we?"

"What do you want?"

"It is simple. I want to know the reason why so many military personnel have appeared in Larache," Darko answered.  
Carlos snickered upon hearing the question. "Why else do you think so? Because we were given orders by the higher-ups! What position do you think I am to ask questions?"

Darko shrugged and nodded, taking Carlos' point. "There must be someone higher in rank than you in this town. Who is he, and where is he?"

"What makes you think I'll tell you?" Carlos asked with a smug.

With expert aiming, Darko shot his Phantom Blade into the chair Carlos was sitting on, less than a centimetre away from flesh. "That's what makes me think so."

"Alright, alright," Carlos retrieved the Phantom Blade, his hands slightly shaking, wanting to return it to Darko. However, Darko saw an expression in his eyes which told him otherwise.

Swooping low, Darko barely dodged a vicious swipe from Carlos, who was using the former's Phantom Blade. With a strong push Darko tipped the desk over. Carlos swiftly moved backwards in order not to get hit by the falling desk, but was not fast enough. The desk fell on one of his legs, causing Carlos to let out a yelp.

Recovering his Phantom Blade, Darko seized Carlos by the hair and asked, "Who?"

"General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who remains on board the frigate Rodrigo Borja I," Carlos revealed.

Darko slammed his head once on the overturned desk, which was enough to knock Carlos out cold. He then left before anyone who might have heard them arrived.

Watching the harbour with a pair of binoculars, Darko took his time to scan the area, analysing the soldiers' patrol patterns and goings-on. About half an hour later, Darko saw a smaller boat that had left the Rodrigo Borja I just minutes earlier reach the harbour. Two soldiers dragged a female out of the boat, where four more soldiers followed along, acting as extra protection. The female had a sack over her head and was handcuffed.

Reading the soldiers' lips, Darko was able to make out a portion of their conversation.

"We found this lady snooping around on board the frigate," Soldier One said. "She had a hood on and was using this strange blade weapon."

Soldier Two added, "I overheard General de Rivera calling her assassin. Don't know how or why he thought she was out to kill."

That was enough for Darko. Placing his binoculars on the roof so he could retrieve it later, Darko climbed off the building to rescue the captured female.

The soldiers were so deep in conversation that they did not notice the hooded man charging towards them from the side. Darko pounced on the closest soldier, who was knocked out the moment his head hit the ground.

Using the first soldier's rifle, Darko thrust it into the second soldier, who fell into the ocean. Ramming it sideways, Darko hit the third in the chest with the rifle butt.

At the same time the fourth and fifth soldiers raised their rifle, preparing to shoot Darko. However, Darko shot them first, though ensuring that the bullets would not be fatal to the soldiers. The sixth and last soldier turned to run, trying to call for help. Forced to stop the soldier before he succeeded, Darko shot a Phantom Blade into his leg.

Once the Phantom Blade had been reclaimed, Darko went back to the female prisoner, who had managed to free herself in the meantime.

"What's the phrase your people always use?" Darko paused for a short moment, before continuing, "Oh yeah, bloody hell. Never thought I would see you here and in such a state, Miss Frye."

Lydia nodded with a polite smile. "We can talk later. Right now we should get away from here. God knows how many soldiers are in this harbour."


	9. Chapter 9

The two of them made their way to Darko's lodgings, an inn on the other side of town.

"So how did you, Master Assassin Lydia Frye of the British Assassins, end up getting escorted off the Rodrigo Borja I in handcuffs, when you should be in London?"

"You don't know, do you?" Lydia said. "Your fellow Assassins should tell you in the coming days, but I'll tell you now."

"The Templars have discovered an amulet, a tool needed to unlock a Prophecy Disk, a First Civilisation artefact, in the Rif Republic, and are currently waiting for its arrival in Larache. Along with several other Assassins I departed from London. We separated in Seville when the frigate left before I, who was scouting the ship then, could get off it. Unluckily enough I was discovered while on board."

"So you need help returning to Seville?" Darko guessed.

To his surprise, Lydia shook her head. "Since I'm already here, I should finish what I started. Steal the amulet and destroy it. The Templars discovered that amulet at a digsite near Chefchaouen, a city within the Rif Republic, not very long ago. The amulet should be still in the city."

"Then we better make haste there," Darko said.

In less than a day both of them made it to Chefchaouen. Templar presence was felt within the city, though significantly lesser than in Larache. That likely meant that the amulet was still in the city or it had just left. Darko and Lydia split up to ask locals whether they knew anything of the recent events.

"Ah, yes," a local said. "As of late there's been a lot of digging in an area near here. But recently, just one or two days ago, the digging stopped. We don't know what those people were finding, but I think it's important."

Another local replied, "They seem to have their headquarters near the southern entrance. I wouldn't go there though, there're a lot of dangerous-looking men around the building."

Darko and Lydia made their way to the location. As told there were Templar goons around the area, guarding and patrolling the place.

"That must be their headquarters," Lydia said, pointing at the building with a Templar flag on it. "Let's pay them a visit."

Pulling out her revolver, Lydia shot the two Templar guards outside the building. Darko immediately raced for the building, dashing through the door.

Inside the building were three more Templar henchmen, who were momentarily confused by the sudden event. Taking advantage of the confusion, Darko attacked them.

Delivering an uppercut punch to the first henchman's jaw, Darko slammed his arm into his body, causing him to fall onto the floor. Swinging around, Darko engaged his Hidden Blade and slashed the second henchman across the chest. He stabbed the Hidden Blade into the third henchman, but he managed to deflect the attack.

"Not bad," Darko said, distracting the third henchman for a split second. Darko subsequently drew a pistol and shot him in the gut.

Attracted by the sound of gunfire, more henchmen rushed down the stairs. However, Darko and Lydia had been expecting them and had a trick prepared for them. Sticking out her leg, Lydia tripped the first henchman down the stairs. The second and third henchmen managed to stop in time, but the others could not, resulting in a domino effect when the henchmen at the back fell.

Darko and Lydia emerged from cover to finish off the henchmen, who were now disorientated. Once the job was done, the two Assassins headed up the stairs to the first floor.

Two more Templar goons were waiting for them in the first floor hallway. Fortunately or unfortunately, the goons were better equipped and seemed to be more experienced than the other henchmen they had encountered, which meant that the amulet, or something of equal value, was nearby.

"You take the first one, I'll take the second one," Darko said as he fired a Phantom Blade at the first elite henchman. The blade buried itself in his body, though he was not in pain at all.

Removing the Phantom Blade from his body, the goon hurled it back at Darko. Darko crouched to avoid being hit by his own weapon.

Lydia unsheathed her kukri and ran towards the second henchman, deciding to fight him in close quarters. The henchman responded by pulling out his sword and parrying the kukri, which resulted in a loud metallic clang.

Pulling the kukri away, Lydia went low and attempted to slash his legs. The henchman responded by kicking Lydia, sending her flying backwards. He closed in on Lydia, wanting to finish her off before she recovered. However, he was too slow and by that time Lydia had already recovered. She elegantly flipped up from the floor and slashed at the henchman, piercing through his hard leather body armour and nicking his solar plexus.

The second goon stumbled backwards, surprised that Lydia had managed to wound him. She executed a jump kick to the goon's solar plexus, causing him to topple. Lydia finished him off by crushing his windpipe with her foot.

Nearly at the same time, Darko finished off his opponent with a slash to his neck with a Hidden Blade. "Let's search the place, shall we?"

In the room with the amulet, a lone Templar guarded the artefact. He was dressed lightly and had an arsenal weapons on him, including a sword, a dagger and a pistol. When the two Assassins entered, the Templar drew his sword and dagger.

"Stand back," the Templar ordered, pointing his dagger at them.

Rolling her eyes, Lydia fired a Phantom Blade from her own Assassin gauntlet. To their surprise the Templar knocked it aside with his sword.

"Good try," the Templar said. "Now it's my turn."

Rushing at the two Assassins, the Templar anticipated their attacks well, raising his dagger to parry Lydia's kukri and his sword to deflect Darko's Hidden Blade. With mustered strength he kicked Darko in the crotch, who then stumbled backwards out of the room.

"Cheeky sod," Lydia said before slamming her body into the Templar, causing him to fall.

At that moment, Darko rushed back in, preparing to pounce on the fallen Templar. The Templar swiftly rolled to one side, moving away from Darko.

"Argh!" Darko let out as he landed on the hard floor.

The Templar tried to plunge his dagger into Darko, but Darko managed to disarm him and bury it in his thigh. Stripping the Templar of his weapons, Darko got up and carried him to the window with Lydia's aid.

"Put me down! What the hell are you doing?" the Templar struggled but in vain.

"You'll see," Lydia said before both of them threw the Templar out the window.

Looking down, Darko saw the Templar lying face down on the ground outside, a pool of blood forming around him. Turning back, he saw Lydia grabbing the amulet from the table.

"Do we destroy it now?" Darko asked.

Smiling at Darko, Lydia said, "God, no. Aside from acting like a Master Assassin, you need to think like one, Darko. Why destroy the amulet when we can use it to lessen the enemy numbers?"

"I am humbled, Miss Frye," Darko said with a mischievous smile. "What are you thinking?"

"As you probably know, the Templars, like us, are drawn to First Civilisation artefacts like bees are to honey. Sooner or later they'll suspect something when their amulet isn't in Larache and send forces to investigate. How about we launch an ambush and thin their numbers?"


	10. Chapter 10

In the time they had before the Templar troops arrived, Darko and Lydia worked to call in Assassin reinforcements. Within a day Darko had managed to get Johnny, Gautier and George over to Chefchaouen. Half a day after Darko's friends reached the city Lydia's two Assassins, who were in Seville, did.

Three days after the amulet was retrieved by the Assassins, a force of masked soldiers from the Tercio de Extranjeros rushed into the street the Templar base was located on. At the same time a small force of Tercios remained, blocking off the two ends of the road.

Luckily the seven Assassins were prepared and had formulated a counterattack plan. Lydia's two Assassins, both of them decent shooters, were stationed on top of the building directly opposite the Templar base and armed with MP 18 submachine guns. They helped to lower the Tercios' numbers by raining torrents of bullets on them.

Almost immediately the Tercios returned fire to the two of them, deciding that they had to be eliminated ASAP, since the MP 18 was a deadly weapon, so deadly that the Treaty of Versailles banned further study and manufacture of similar weapons by the Germans.

However, the Tercios were merely wasting bullets. Since the Tercios had returned fire the two Assassins, according to orders made beforehand, had abandoned their positions.

After consuming a hundred or so bullets, the masked Tercios realised that the Assassins were gone from their posts, and sent a small detachment of troops after them before returning their focus back to the Templar base.

The two Assassins made their way back to the Templar base through a short network of roads and alleyways, at the same time avoiding the Tercios. Entering the base through a back door, they went straight to Lydia Frye, their superior.

"Not bad," Lydia complimented. "We estimated about half a quarter of the attackers down from your bullets. Take a short rest now and be prepared to fight."

Darko and Gautier were stationed at the front entrance while Johnny and Dayton were by the back entrance, ready to ambush the soldiers.

A squad of five Tercios barged through the front door, fanning out across the living room and clearing it. Finding nothing of interest, the soldiers went on to clear the other rooms. As two soldiers crouch-walked by, Darko grabbed the second one, pulling him close and stabbing his Hidden Blade into the Tercio's throat.

The first Tercio, hearing sounds coming from behind him, wheeled around, only to be pulled down and killed by Gautier.

Attention raised by the sounds coming near the sofa, the remaining three soldiers faced it, training their bolt-action rifles at it.

"Whoever's there, put your hands up!" a Tercio ordered. "Put your hands up, now!"  
Hearing the words coming from their comrades inside, three more Tercios entered the building to help.

"You take those on your side, I'll take those on my side," Darko mouthed to Gautier.

Gautier nodded in reply and mouthed back, "On the count of three. One…two…three!"  
Using the fallen Tercios' bolt-action rifles, each Assassin shot three of the Tercios. Hearing sounds of gunfire, more Tercios rushed into the building, only to be fired on by the waiting Assassins.

After three more Tercios were killed, the soldiers stopped coming in, knowing that it would only result in their unneeded deaths.

Half a minute earlier, three soldiers stacked up against each other outside the back entrance. The leading attacker raised a hand, utilising his fingers to count down. Upon reaching zero, the three soldiers moved into the building.

Upon taking his first step into the building, the leading soldier spotted a projectile racing towards him. With accuracy he swiped it aside with his hand, giving a triumphant smile thinking that he had stopped the projectile. Bringing his hand up to see what the projectile was, the soldier swore.

Simultaneously, the soldier lost his mind and began hallucinating, swiping his rifle randomly and shouting, "Enemies, enemies everywhere!" Fortunately, the only other soldiers who could hear him were his two comrades, as gunshots coming from the front of the building prevented others from hearing the insane soldier.

"Have you lost your mind, sir?" the second Tercio asked.

The leading Tercio responded by shoving him in the chest with the rifle, before pulling the trigger once.

"Jesus, are you alright?" the third Tercio appeared as he examined the second one.

"Enemies, enemies everywhere!" the first soldier said as he shot the third man in the head.

Seconds later, the crazy Tercio collapsed, his energy sapped and very close to death. The last thing he saw were two hooded men emerging from their hiding spots.

"Let's go and see what's going on at the front," Johnny told George. "Quick, before we miss out on all the fun."

At the front of the building, Johnny and George took cover behind a table. "What happened?" Johnny mouthed to Darko and Gautier.

Gautier recounted everything that had happened there to Johnny and George, without making a sound of course. Just as Gautier finished explaining, they heard shots coming from above.

Lydia's Assassins, who were now on the rooftop of the once-Templar base, were once again raining bullets on the Tercios below, taking them by surprise one more time.

As the two Assassins were unloading their MP18s, Lydia spotted a group of soldiers forming a ring around a man. This man, though masked like all the Tercios present, was dressed differently and had a different set of weapons on him. Drawing her pistol, Lydia took aim and fired.

General de Rivera felt a bullet ram into his stomach, causing him to double up in pain. "I'm wounded, get me out of here, quick!" he barked at his troops.

"Right away, sir," the soldiers said in near-unison.

Lydia, realising that the man was none other than General Miguel Primo de Rivera, Grandmaster of the Spanish Templars, tried to fire off a second shot to kill him, but the soldiers around him made it impossible to do so.

Most of the soldiers were starting to retreat, except for a brave few brave souls. Those brave souls were mercilessly shot dead by the waiting Assassins.

"Damn it," Lydia swore as she came down to the living room. "General de Rivera himself was amongst those men. I managed to land a shot on him, but it wasn't enough to kill him."

"General de Rivera?" the Assassins were surprised. "He was present?"

She nodded. "But at least we've won this battle. The Tercios are retreating, and I believe we've put a dent in the Spanish Templars, physically and psychologically."

"What do we do with the amulet now?" Darko asked.

Lydia grinned. "Come with me."

Bringing the Assassins on the roof, Lydia held the amulet up for all to see. She presumed that it was the reason why the Tercios had come. Dropping it onto the floor, Lydia crushed the amulet with a foot. She picked the crushed amulet up before hurling it off the building.

From a distance, a masked General de Rivera, currently being escorted away by a ring of Tercios, saw what Lydia was doing.

"The Assassins will pay for this," General de Rivera muttered.


	11. Chapter 11

After the successful operation in Chefchaouen, Templar activity in Spain and its colonies were reduced by a great load. Darko took the time to catch his breath and improve on his skills.

It was now early August of 1923. The Assassins in mainland Spain, led by Mentor Antonio Rovera, had managed to re-establish their main base in Spain since their previous headquarters in the Peñagrande neighbourhood of Madrid had been raided by policemen sent by General de Rivera. The Spanish Assassins' headquarters was now not actually in Spain, but rather in Andorra la Vella, capital of the Principality of Andorra.

Having received a letter written by Antonio himself, Johnny read the contents of the letter to his Assassin comrades – Darko, George, Gautier and Dhamir.

"The raids on our Assassin dens in Madrid happened less than half a year ago, and the memory is still fresh in our minds. Hence, we have decided not to re-establish the Spanish Assassins' headquarters in Madrid, but rather in the nearby Principality of Andorra. Rather strange, isn't it, for the headquarters of the Spanish Assassins not to be in Spain at all. Do come and visit me in the headquarters in Andorra la Vella, capital of Andorra."

Antonio could not have chosen a better place to re-establish the Assassin headquarters. Andorra la Vella, despite being a capital, was not well-known to the rest of the world. It was so unnoticed that Andorra, which had declared war on Germany in World War I, though they did not send any soldiers into the conflict, was not included in the Treaty of Versailles, simply because it had not been noticed.

Modernisation was slow to come to Andorra la Vella, probably because of its location, which was high in the Pyrenees and that not many came to the place. Most of its buildings were made out of stone or brick, and the height of those buildings rarely reached above two floors.

"Welcome, welcome!" Antonio said, gesturing for the four Assassins to come in.

Entering the brick building, Darko sat on a couch, removing his trench coat, folding it up and putting it on his lap. Andorra la Vella was pretty cold all year round, hence the Assassin base had been fitted with a fireplace and gas lighting to keep it warm.

Johnny said, "Looks like a good place for an Assassin base. Safe, quite isolated, yet in a capital."

"The Templars must've thought the same way," Antonio said. "We didn't know this when we established our base here, but the Templars also have a base in Andorra. It's located in nearby Les Escaldes, less than an hour from here. They have had their base there for nearly one hundred years, while ours less than one year."

"Being long-standing doesn't mean it's better," Gautier pointed out. "Why don't we go and take down their base. This place being quiet and all, it should take a while before word spreads."

"Take your time with it, alright? I'm going to feel bad for asking you all here to relax, yet you all end up doing our dirty work," Antonio said sheepishly.

"Oh no, just think of it as an exercise to warm ourselves up, especially since this place is quite chilly," George chuckled.

The Templar base was a rundown Renaissance-style cathedral built on a quiet hillside. Inside the cathedral was a preaching priest, who was more than delighted to see two men walk in. The cathedral probably received little visitors.

"Ah, visitors! Allow me to introduce myself, I am Friar Gabriel Goya de Zaragoza, head of this cathedral. Excuse my excitement, it is not everyday the cathedral receives visitors."

"Which form of Christianity is this cathedral dedicated to?" George asked. "Orthodox? Protestantism? Catholicism?"

"Neither," Friar de Zaragoza said. "This cathedral is dedicated to a deity not as well-known as the others, yet equally, if not more powerful. He is the Father of Understanding, a benevolent man who seeks only peace and order. The Father of Understanding helps those that have pledged allegiance to him by guiding them through life, showing them the path they must take, and what they must do to achieve the greater good for humanity."

"General de Rivera awaits you outside," Gautier simply said. "Bring everyone inside this cathedral with you."

Right outside the cathedral, a masked man with a Templar ring on his finger stood, guarded by a second masked man with a shotgun. Soon Gabriel walked out of the building, with a group of four men in robes.

"My men are all here, Grandmaster," Gabriel said with a short bow.

Darko, who was masquerading as the Templar Grandmaster, gave the Assassins a short nod. In near unison they drew their weapons and Darko threw off his mask.

Surging forward, Darko thrust his Hidden Blade into Friar de Zaragoza's heart. "A pity your Grandmaster couldn't be present today. Rest in peace, Templar."

Meanwhile, Gautier took out the Friar's four men while George and Johnny kept watch, ensuring that none of them escaped. As much as they did not like it, those men were very likely Templars-in-training and also they did not want to leave witnesses.

"The job is done," Johnny said as the four Assassins returned to the Assassin base in Andorra la Vella. "The Templar base has been cleared, and Friar Gabriel Goya de Zaragoza, man-in-charge of the base, has been eliminated."

Antonio Rovera nodded, satisfied. "Spend the next few days here, alright? Take a breather, enjoy the sights, whatever you want to do here except Assassin work."

The four of them ended up spending one entire week in Andorra la Vella before leaving. From there they returned to Morocco, but this time it was French Morocco rather than the Spanish one. Dhamir had sent them a telegram from his home in Melilla, informing them that the Assassins there needed aid.


	12. Chapter 12

Arriving in Casablanca, capital of French Morocco in the middle of August, the Assassins made their way to the Assassin headquarters there, only to find it ablaze, with men using simple cloth wrapped around their mouths to conceal their identities literally adding fuel to the fire.

Darko shot a Phantom Blade at the first man, bringing him down instantly. It brought the attention of the other men, but they were poorly armed and were unable to defend against Johnny, Gautier and even George.

In seconds, the attackers were all down. Without wasting a moment the four Assassins rushed into the Assassin base. Inside, the Assassins were trying to evacuate, but flaming debris was everywhere and it was difficult for them to see. But with their intervention most of the Assassins managed to evacuate.

"Thank you for your help, Assassins," the leader of the Assassins in French Morocco, a French-Muslim underworld figure only known as the Militant de Concord, or the Fighter of Peace, as they gathered in another Assassin base in the city.

"Some opposition from the Templars of late?" Darko guessed. "It was quite obvious that the fire at your headquarters was caused by arsonists, likely Templar-affiliated ones."

De Concord nodded. "It's been pretty tense for the past few days, but this is the first arson we've experienced here. The Templars are stepping up their game, and I feel it's time we did too. Luckily you lot are around."

"Heard a lot about you, the Militant de Concord, an underworld brute with a conscience," Johnny said. "I'm Johnny Guvera, an Assassin from Spanish Morocco."

"Same with you, Johnny," he said. "An underworld weapons dealer who sabotages weapons being sent to his enemies, mostly Templars."

Johnny laughed, before saying, "What are the Templars up to here?"

"Not entirely sure, but our assumption now is that they're trying to take us down. It wouldn't be surprise if that was the case. The newspaper called the attacks on us 'a series of unfortunate events orchestrated by rebels', do you believe it?" De Concord reported.

"Any place you know of that's seeing Templar activity here in Casablanca?" George asked.

"Everywhere. But in particular a teahouse in the Derb Omar district. In recent years the Derb Omar district has become filled with Chinese immigrants. It almost feels like you've travelled halfway across the world!" De Concord realised he was going off-topic and paused. "Anyway, the teahouse, named Shi Long Teahouse is owned by a man from Formosa, or Taiwan, a Templar named Shi Long. You know what to do."

Shi Long Teahouse was one of the more popular teahouses in the district. Hence, there were quite a few civilians inside when the Assassins arrived.

"Ah, welcome to Shi Long Teahouse! I am the owner, Shi Long himself. Do take a seat," he said warmly. "Would you like some tea? We have a new shipment of tea leaves from India. Very exquisite, I admit."

"We're not sure if you've this tea," Gautier said, albeit softly. "I heard it's pretty rare. It's an Irish tea called Shay Cormac. Do you have it?"

"Shay Cormac tea? The American one?" they could see that Shi Long was testing them.

Johnny shook his head. "No, no, it's the Irish one! Do you have it?"

"The famous Shay Cormac Irish tea, of course we have it! Just arrived, too. Come with me to the back, you can take a look for yourselves."

"By the Father of Understanding, you westerners sure know how to identify fellow Templars," Shi Long said once they were in the staff-only area of the teahouse. "I didn't know it myself until I thought about it."

"We have come under the orders of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, Grandmaster of the Spanish Templars," Darko lied. "We have come to aid the Templars and their allies here in French Morocco."

"Then you've no worry. The Assassins here are weak and beaten," Shi Long said triumphantly. "Wait, General de Rivera? Another man came here not long ago, saying that he was a Templar under his command. I believed him because he looked the part, with a Templar ring and all."

"Oh god," Darko acted, looking at his Assassin comrades, looking concerned. "What did he look like?"

"Italian-looking, with a prominent beard and moustache. He said he was Colonel Sebastiano di Medici from Madrid, a member of some military organisation called the Tercio de Extranjeros."

Johnny gritted his teeth. "That was an Assassin impostor, Shi Long. Colonel di Medici was poisoned to death two weeks ago in his home in Madrid."

Shi Long swore in Chinese. "I told that bastard everything I knew!"  
"I suppose there's no point crying over spilt milk," George said. "Why don't you tell us everything you told him? It could give us a hint on how to hunt the impostor down."

Over the next few minutes, Shi Long fell for it and told the Assassins everything.

"…and that impostor says he will return here by the end of the day to discuss more," Shi Long revealed. "I can't wait to stick a knife into him."

"Let us wait here until the 'Colonel' returns, then," Darko said, sitting down on a nearby stool.

Hours later, as promised, Colonel Sebastiano di Medici returned to the teahouse, this time accompanied by a group of armed Templar goons. "Shi Long?" he called out. "I'm back, as promised!"

To his surprised it was someone else who opened the back door. A Serbian, or Russian by the looks of it, and an Assassin.

"Well, well. If it isn't Darko Kerzhakov, the famous Master Assassin," Colonel di Medici said mockingly. "I suppose you're here to 'liberate Casablanca from tyranny', am I correct?"

As if on cue, his henchmen drew their weapons, though Colonel di Medici raised a hand to stop them from attacking. "What have you done to Shi Long? Kill him? Or even 'interrogate' him?"

"What lies," Shi Long said, stepping out into the alleyway. "How dare you impersonate one of us? You will pay for your sins!"  
Before Sebastiano could register what was happening, Shi Long plunged a dagger into his stomach. "Go to hell, impostor!"

Only that Sebastiano had released a Hidden Blade of his own and had parried the attack. "I will not be killed by a fool whose mind is so easily swayed. Slay all of them!"  
As the goons were busy attacking Shi Long, Darko and Gautier, they did not notice Johnny and George sneaking up on them from behind. With expert precision, Johnny fired a berserk dart into Colonel di Medici himself.

"Sir, are you alright?" a goon asked, only to have the Colonel shoot him in the head a moment later.

With the goons distracted, the Assassins, with the aid of Shi Long, massacred the Templar goons. Colonel di Medici died after the effects of Johnny's dart wore off.

"Thank you for your aid," Shi Long said. "If you all hadn't intervened I would have fell for the impostor! I must say, the Assassins have really stepped up. Their Templar impersonation technique has certainly improved!"

Out of the blue, Gautier thrust his Hidden Blade into Shi Long. "What if Colonel Sebastiano di Medici was correct? What if we are all Assassins, and he really is a Templar?"

Darko stepped forward, a pistol in his hand. "You have my sincerest apologies for tricking you, Shi Long. Goodbye."

A gunshot rang out and the Formosan went limp. The Assassins then made their leave, before the local law enforcement arrived.


	13. Chapter 13

General de Rivera was thoroughly annoyed when he received word of the deaths of two more Templars. Losing the first Templar, a teahouse owner in Casablanca named Shi Long, was not that much of a big deal but losing Colonel Sebastiano di Medici was.

He was rapidly losing influence in the Spanish Army as well as the Spanish Legion, though he still had the backing of King Alfonso XIII. General de Rivera did not like the way things were going.

If it persisted his plans of becoming ruler of Spain would be squashed by those Assassins, especially the Serbian Master Assassin, Darko Kerzhakov. He had to admit, Darko was a worthy adversary, having foiled many assassination attempts on him and taking down many Templars.

General de Rivera decided that he would have to act quickly and complete his plan before the Assassins foiled it.

Unfortunately for General de Rivera, his plans had come to light and Assassins everywhere were rushing to Spain to answer the call for help. They gathered in the Spanish Assassin headquarters in Andorra la Vella.

"Aleksandar?" Darko was surprised to see him. "Aleksandar Mikovic, is that you?"

He had not seen Aleksandar for nearly a decade since Aleksandar had settled down in Moscow to aid the Russian Assassins. "Master Assassin Darko Kerzhakov in the flesh, it has been a long time. You've come a long way, rascal."

"Same to you, Master Assassin Mikovic," Darko said. "But now is not the time for us to catch up."

Many Assassins had showed up at the Assassin base. It was now early September of 1923, and the Spain was in a state of chaos. Rumours were everywhere that the Spanish Army was ludicrously corrupt, and the parliamentary government was attacking both General Miguel Primo de Rivera and King Alfonso XIII.

Lydia Frye said, "I have sent several of my Assassins into Spain, particularly Madrid and Barcelona, led by Francis Guercino aka Frank Gatti, to make sense of what is going on inside the country. It makes sense to understand the goings-on there before charging headfirst into it."

"Well said, Miss Frye," Antonio Rovera agreed. "But there is not much time left, I predict, before General de Rivera stages his coup."

Aleksandar suggested, "A ruler cannot rule if there's no people to rule over. If we turn the people of Spain against General de Rivera and his allies, his plan will be affected."

"That is a decent idea. Well then, Aleksandar, take the Russian Assassins under your charge and head to the port city of Seville. Make the people of Seville oppose General de Rivera using any method you favour, but ensure that you do not break the tenets of the Creed."

"Lydia, head to Barcelona to aid your Assassins there. Direct them to do the same," Antonio instructed. "The rest of us, we're heading to Madrid."

Days passed and it was now September 12th, 1923. The Assassins at Barcelona and Seville had some luck turning the civilians against General de Rivera and his allies, but those in Madrid had absolutely no success.

Darko was exhausted both mentally and physically. Over the past few days he had done many other things other than trying to turn the people against their rulers, including rescuing an Assassin who had landed himself in jail, killing Templars and sabotaging Templar establishments. However, the Templars in Madrid were like a hydra ; cut off one head but only to be replaced by two more.

"How's it going in the other cities?" Gautier asked.

Antonio sighed and shook his head. "They had some luck, but not enough to make a significant impact. After all, with so much things going on right now in the country, it hardly means anything."

"This battle is being lost," Johnny said. "There's no more hope in this damned place. Let's just get out of here before shit hits the fan."

"Do not lose hope!" Antonio said optimistically. "We will be able to stop General de Rivera! The Assassins will triumph."

George sighed, agreeing with what Johnny had said. "All we can do now is hope."

The next day, Madrid was woken up to a large amount of Spanish soldiers, numbering in the thousands, marching for the Palacio del Senado in the city. This was it, General de Rivera's coup had begun.

Antonio, Darko, Gautier, Johnny and George were but five men in the humongous crowd of civilians that had gathered. A good portion of the civilians were following the soldiers on the pavement, curious to see where they were heading for. The five Assassins were a part of the 'good portion of civilians'.

The soldiers eventually ended up in front of the Palacio del Senado, where General de Rivera addressed the crowd of civilians and soldiers.

"The aim of this coup, our aim at that, is to open a brief parenthesis in the constitutional life of Spain and re-establish it as soon as the country offers us men uncontaminated with the vices of political organisation," General de Rivera announced. "Hence, I hereby dissolve the parliament and constitution of Spain and declare myself Prime Minister of Spain! Under my rule I will eliminate corruption that has ravaged the Spanish Army and regenerate Spain to its true glory."

"Ninety days, ninety days is all I will rule for. Prepare, citizens of Spain, for the destiny of Spain is about to change for the better!"

While the soldiers cheered, the civilians were unsure of how to react. In the midst of all the hoo-ha, the five Assassins slipped away.

Word spread fast to the Assassins in the other cities, and soon they met up back at the Assassin headquarters in Andorra la Vella.

"General de Rivera has won the fight," Antonio said with a sigh. "He has declared himself Prime Minister of Spain and has established a military dictatorship. The Templars have regained control of Spain, and all has come to naught."

"But how many Templars have been slain in the fight?" Lydia asked rhetorically. "It has not come to naught, Mentor Rovera. A Templar killed is five Assassins saved, remember that."


	14. Chapter 14

Darko spent the next few months in Bern, Switzerland. For the first few weeks there he drank all day, until Darko decided to sober up and aid the Assassin Order by establishing the Swiss Assassins, which had not existed up to that point.

Quickly the Swiss Assassins expanded, and by early December of 1923 it had become a considerable force. The Swiss Assassins' headquarters in name was Darko's residence in Bern, though they utilised many other locations throughout Switzerland to meet up.

One day, Darko received a very unusual guest in his home at Bern. It was none other than Aleksandar Mikovic, Russian Master Assassin and long-time acquaintance of Darko.

"Aleksandar! What brings you here to Bern?"

"Times are rough for the Russian Assassins, Darko," Aleksandar said. "Vladimir Lenin, long our protector, has suffered three strokes and is now mute and bedridden. Though he's still officially leading the Communist Party, others are already beginning to fight for his position."

"And let me guess, the Templars are somehow involved?"

"Correct. Templars have infiltrated the executive committee of the Russian Communist Party, also known as the Politburo, slowly poisoning the likely successors of Vladimir. In particular is a man named Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party. Very recently, Joseph has turned from Lenin's staunch ally to a ruthless critic of him."

"But why come here, Aleksandar? Switzerland is far away from the Russian Empire, though I suppose it's just Russia now. You could've gotten aid from Assassins in nearby countries like China."

"Vladimir Lenin has stated that he wishes to meet you. For what reasons we don't know, but he wants to see you as soon as possible," Aleksandar revealed. "I feel that he will not live much longer on this world. We must hurry."

Bringing along a trusted Swiss Assassin, former German Assassin Paul Celtis, Darko and Aleksandar travelled to Vladimir Lenin's estate in Gorki, not far south of Moscow.

Vladimir was in a wheelchair at the living room when the Assassins arrived. As they learned on the journey, Vladimir had difficulty speaking but could write decently with his left hand, since his right side was paralysed.

"Wel…welcome," Vladimir said. "Sincerest apolo…apologies for hav…having to see me in this…this state. After…after all, I wasn't like…like this when we la…last met."

"No problem, sér. No issue at all," Darko said. "I heard that you wanted me here immediately. May I know why?"

With some difficulty, Vladimir took a letter tucked inside his coat and handed it to Darko. "Re…read it."

Reading the letter, Darko realised it was a list of names and several crucial details about them. "Are all of them…Templars?"

"Templars and…and their allies, ye…yes," Vladimir nodded his head. "It is poss...possibly my last…last act to aid the Assassin Or…Order. Use it well, Dark…o."

Less than two months later, Vladimir Lenin died in the dacha at Gorki in the evening, on 21st January 1924. Darko, who had been staying in Moscow since he had come in December, was one of the many to view his body.

"Rest in peace, friend. You have served the Assassins very well," Darko mumbled before leaving the Hall of Columns.

Now back in Bern, Darko decided to use the list of Templars given to him by Vladimir to strengthen the Swiss Assassins, since there were quite a few on that list that resided within Switzerland.

First up was a cousin of Colonel Henri Guisan, a soldier of the Swiss Army. Coincidentally, Colonel Guisan was an ally of the Assassin Order and upon being informed that a cousin of his was a Templar, Colonel Guisan gave his approval to kill the cousin.

"I wasn't really very close to Marco anyway," Henri said. "Also I never liked him. He was rather cruel and childish, even in adulthood. Him being a Templar is just one more reason to get rid of him."

Not wanting to alarm the Templars in Switzerland, Darko decided to kill Marco in a way that it would be hard for the Templars to link it to Assassins.

Darko learned that Marco had milk delivered to his doorstep every three days. Obtaining a small quantity of both cyanide and aconite, both deadly poisons, Darko made his way to Marco's apartment on a morning where milk would be delivered.

Shadowing the milkman, Darko watched as he placed the milk bottle on Marco's doorstep before leaving. Once the milkman had left, Darko opened the milk glass bottle and emptied his cyanide-aconite solution inside. Closing the bottle, Darko left the scene.

The next day, the newspaper reported that Marco Guisan, a distant relative of Colonel Henri Guisan, had been found dead in his apartment the previous day. Regarding the cause of death the authorities had no idea yet, and they were still investigating.

Darko already knew what the Templars would think. Aconite was a poison frequently used by Templars for their dirty work, and they would likely link it to something other than an Assassin's work.

Next up was Lawrenzo Payens, a French-Italian tour guide working in Bern. He was also the only other Templar currently residing in the city. He would aid the Templar Order by gathering information when asked to.

Lawrenzo was in the office of the tourist agency he worked for when Darko entered. "May I help you, Mister…?"  
"Mister Mortem," Darko said, hiding a smile. "I'm a tourist from Russia and I wish to engage your services, after hearing a good word put in by a friend of mine."

He was sure he had heard the name before, but could not identify exactly where. "Ah, Mister Mortem, which friend would that be? Perhaps the name's familiar to my ears."

"A friend called death. He's expecting you very soon," Darko swiftly produced a poison dart and pierced it into Lawrenzo's neck, before pulling it back out moments later.

It was highly unusual for an Assassin to use a poison dart in close quarters, so it was unlikely for the death to be linked to the Assassins as well.

In his dying moments, Lawrenzo realised why the name 'Mister Mortem' was familiar. It was because 'mortem' was Latin for 'death'.

"Someone, someone help!" Darko cried frantically as he dashed out of the room. "Something's happened to Herr Payens!"

Several personnel rushed towards Lawrenzo's office only to find him dying in his chair. They looked around, trying to find the man who had shouted for help, but he was no where to be found.

Soon newspapers around Switzerland reported the double deaths in the city of Bern, which had occurred in as many days. Reading an article on one of the local newspapers, the Neue Berner Zeitung, or the New Journal of Bern, Darko found it interesting.

"Rumours suggest that the two victims have links to a secret organisation only known as the Templars," Darko read to Paul Celtis. "Though there are no reports to confirm this, it remains the talk of bars and coffeehouses everywhere."

"It says here that the one who wrote this article is a freelance writer named Zadar von Trapp," Paul pointed out. "I predict very soon Templars will come to visit Zadar. If we can put him out of that predicament I'm sure he'll be willing to aid the Assassins."

"Well said, Paul," Darko commended. "Get Assassins to shadow Zadar at all hours of the day."


	15. Chapter 15

A short period of time later, an Assassin dashed into Darko's house in Bern.

"Master, Master!" the Assassin called out to Darko. "Suspicious men were spotted heading into the building where the target lives in!"  
Darko and Paul quickly left the house, heading for Zadar's residence which was not far away.

"What's the situation, Assassin?" Paul asked a fellow Assassin who was positioned right outside the building.

"Sir," he acknowledged. "Five muscular brutes walked into the apartment building very recently. Their leader had a pistol at his waist."

"All of you, stay outside," Darko ordered. "Paul, come with me."

They found Zadar's apartment door wide open when they arrived. Entering the unit, Darko and Paul found the five men standing around Zadar, who was kneeling and bleeding.

"Remember, no killing," Darko muttered to Paul before rushing towards them.

Grabbing the first brute by the arm, Darko twisted it as hard as he could and kicked him in the small of the back. The second and third brutes, who were the quickest to react, lunged at Darko.

Rolling away from the second goon, Darko saw the third one coming in from above and body-slammed the brute before he could land on Darko. The third brute landed unconscious on the floor.

Seconds earlier, Paul felt his boot connect with the jaw of the fourth goon, sending him sprawling onto the floor. Blocking a strike from the last brute, Paul punched him in the stomach before executing a roundhouse kick to the goon's head.

"Are you alright?" Darko asked as he helped Zadar up.

"Wouldn't have if you two didn't intervene," Zadar said. "Thank you. How did you know I was in trouble, anyway?"

"Your article," Paul simply replied. "It's attracting trouble, particularly by the Templars."  
"Then you must be the Assassins, protectors of freedom," Zadar said. "I am Zadar von Trapp, Swiss-German freelance writer."

"We know," Darko said. "Now let's get out of here, before more of those goons come and harass us."

In Darko's house, the three men sat down and chatted.

"Join us," Darko offered. "Maybe not as a full-fledged Assassin, but just as an Assassin ally. In exchange for our protection, you will not expose the existence of this Order to the public and will report to us crucial information."

"Sounds like a fair deal," Zadar agreed to the offer. "I imagine much worse if the Templars were to make the same offer."

"Wise choice, Herr von Trapp," Paul said. "You shall not regret your decision."

Now that Templars and their influence in Bern had been completely crushed for the time being, Darko left the city to eliminate Templar targets across the country.

From the list that Vladimir had given Darko, he learned that there was a Templar cell in the touristy town of Zermatt. It was time for that cell to fall.

Arriving in Zermatt in late February of 1924, Darko found the weather cold, despite wearing a shirt and a thick trench coat along with a scarf. The Templar cell was apparently located in a small, unkempt hotel in town.

Entering the hotel, Darko relished the warmth coming from the heaters in the building. But despite the heat Darko did not remove his scarf, as it was helping to conceal his identity.

Touring around the area, Darko discovered that the hotel was occupied solely by Templars.

"Do you have a room?" Darko asked.

"Sorry, sir. This hotel is full," the receptionist replied.

"I know you're lying," Darko pointed out. "I will pay you seventy-five Swiss francs for a room, much more than you ordinarily receive."

Biting his lip for a few moments, the receptionist finally said, "I suppose we can make some arrangements. Wait a while here, I'll be back very soon."

Making sure he was alone in this rundown hotel lobby, Darko took out a water bottle which was fastened to his waist. It was covered so no one would be able to see what was in it. Removing the cover, Darko poured the contents of it around the lobby, from the dirty carpeted floor to the cockroach-infested sofas. Producing a lighter, Darko produced to light the sofas on fire.

In seconds the entire lobby area was ablaze, the fire having spread like wildfire due to the gasoline. The receptionist hurried back, noticing that smoke was coming from the lobby.

"Holy shit! The lobby's on fire!" the receptionist yelled. "Get a fire extinguisher, someone, quick!"

Entering a room on the highest floor, Darko found several bottles of alcohol in the fridge, since it was considered a 'deluxe room' and cost more to stay in. Emptying the bottles of alcohol around the room, Darko threw his ignited lighter onto a patch of alcohol on the floor, before making his escape through a window.

In minutes the entire building was burning. Darko watched as the hotel was razed to the ground from a safe distance. As he observed, Darko spotted two muscular men lifting an ornate wooden chest out of the burning building.

"Seems like an item of value to them, if not the entire Templar Order," Darko muttered. "I wonder what's inside that chest."

Moving up to them, Darko incapacitated the two goons in as many moves. Just then, a horse-drawn fire engine pulled up and firemen rushed into the building, completely ignoring Darko.

Loading the chest onto the fire engine, Darko hijacked it and rode it away. Abandoning the vehicle and setting free the horses a number of streets away, Darko carried the chest for the remaining distance back to his lodgings in town.

Once he had caught his breath, Darko picked the lock of the chest and opened it. Inside the chest was a large number of old newspapers that were wrapped around a smaller object inside. Removing the newspapers, Darko removed a small leather-bound book from the chest, which was the only object of interest inside it.

"Jesus," Darko could not help but mumble when he flipped open the book to reveal its contents.

The book was actually a document book listing Templar funds that were kept in various Swiss bank accounts owned by various Templars and Templar associates. It was a treasure trove of information, and Darko could see why it was kept under lock-and-key.

But before moving on to the list of Templar men listed in the leather book, Darko decided to finish the list of Templars that Vladimir had given to him, since there was only one Templar left on that list in Switzerland.


	16. Chapter 16

Coincidentally, the last Templar on Vladimir's list that was residing in Switzerland was also listed on the leather-bound book Darko had retrieved from Zermatt. Sakon Takamatsu was a Japanese Templar and wealthy businessman who had settled down in Zurich less than a decade ago.

In the middle of the night, Darko and Paul, whom he had sent a message to travel to Zurich, invaded Sakon's house, a large bungalow on the outskirts of the city.

Knocking the guard tending the gate unconscious, the two Assassins hid the body in a small cluster of bushes before climbing over the wall. Silently yet swiftly they made their way through the courtyard and into the house through an open window on the first floor.

Inside the house there were considerably less guards, probably due to Sakon wanting privacy. After taking out all the guards in the house, Darko and Paul entered Sakon's bedroom, where he was sleeping soundly.

"Wake up, Mister Takamatsu," Darko said softly into his ear.

"Huh? Who's that?" Sakon's eyes widened upon seeing a hooded face directly in front of him. Before he could say a word, Paul cupped a hand over his mouth.

"Do anything foolish and we'll kill you, Sakon," Paul warned. "Where is your bank book?"

Sakon sneered. "So you Assassins have finally caught up. What makes you think I'll allow you to have access to Templar funds? My guards will hurry here when they hear just one shout, and they will stop you before you kill me."

"If only all of them weren't knocked out cold," Darko said. "Why don't you play by our rules, Sakon?"

"The key to the drawer there is under the bed," Sakon, pointing at a nearby drawer. "Inside the drawer is the bank book. Once you're done hurry up and kill me, you bastards."

While Paul restrained him, Darko went to unlock the drawer and retrieve the bank book. Flipping through the bank book, Darko could not help but whistle.

"Ten thousand francs! This'll serve the Assassins well," Darko said.

Once all the money had been withdrawn from Sakon's bank accounts, the two Assassins killed him and returned to Bern ten thousand francs richer.

The act certainly left a dent in the Templars financially. Ten thousand francs was a lot of money back then, enough to buy a small house and a car. Darko and Paul put the funds to good use, buying out several properties across the country under fake identities, for use by Assassins all over the world.

Weeks after, Darko received bad news. An Assassin novice who had been sent to scout a Templar target had been arrested by the police. He was currently being detained, and Darko was unsure how long the novice could hold out before he let out their secrets.

Making his way to the police station near midnight, Darko climbed in through a locked window on the second floor, which he had to pick-lock open. The police station was largely empty except for a skeleton crew.

However, the number of policemen in the cell block was unusually high, which led Darko to believe that Templars had infiltrated the Swiss police, or at least the one in Bern.

Days ago, Darko had been given a set of brass knuckles as a token of appreciation by an acquaintance, Carlo Gambino. The last time he had met Carlo was during World War I, but they had kept contact through telegrams and letters.

From a hitman for the Honoured Society in Sicily, Carlo had immigrated to the United States, where he was an up-and-coming mobster, having even become a made man for the American Mafia. Carlo was also one of the most senior Assassins in the United States despite his young age of twenty-three.

Itching to try out the brass knuckles, Darko tested it out on an unlucky policeman who was at the cell block. In just one quick punch Darko had knocked the policeman unconscious.

"Would've made for a wonderful Christmas present, Carlo," Darko muttered to no one, before continuing to find the captured Assassin novice.

After taking out two more policemen, Darko finally found the Assassin, who was sleeping soundly in the cell. Knocking on the metal bars of the cell several times, the Assassin finally woke up.

"Mas…master!" the Assassin was surprised.

Darko put a finger to his lip as he took a key from his pocket, which he had found on one of the officers. Unlocking the cell, Darko gestured for the Assassin to come out.

Just then, they heard shouting coming from nearby. They must've discovered one of the bodies, Darko thought.

"Make your way to any of the Assassin bases in the city. Ensure that you are not followed. Go!" Darko hissed. "I'll make sure there's no one left to tail us."

Once the novice had taken off, Darko faced off against the two policemen who were running down the corridor. "Stop right there!" one of them shouted.

Surging forward, Darko rammed into the first policeman, sending him flying to the floor. Snatching the policeman's truncheon in mid-air, Darko hurled it at the second officer.

Incapacitating several more policemen, Darko finally left the police station and returned to his house.


	17. Chapter 17

Policemen were everywhere in Bern now, following the attack on the police station which resulted in many officers getting knocked out and an escaped prisoner. A squad or two of gendarmerie had even been summoned to help with the patrols.

Meanwhile, due to the situation in the city, Darko and Paul had temporarily moved to the town of Vaduz, capital of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein and Switzerland both used the same currency and had an open border.

Vaduz was also the operations base for a Templar-owned bank called the Grand Bank of Zudav. However, the Grand Bank of Zudav was far from grand, with its main and only outlet a two-storey building in Vaduz.

The Grand Bank of Vaduz was used by Templars around the world to store their ill-gotten funds, and the bank would protect those funds from discovery from law enforcement and tax.

Darko and Paul, along with Johnny Guvera and George Dayton, both of whom had travelled from Spain, launched a heist on the Grand Bank of Vaduz, in order to cause a further dent in the Templars' pocket.

On a Friday, three armed men in balaclavas stormed the outlet in Vaduz. A fourth man, George, was waiting nearby in a flatbed truck.

"Hands up, make sure we can see them!" Johnny yelled.

The staff, the only other people in the building, raised their hands. While Johnny kept his MP 18 trained on the group, Darko and Paul slowly walked towards them. Tying the staff members up, the two Assassins brought them to the centre of the lobby, where they knelt down in a circle and were watched over by Paul.

"Who has the vault key?" Darko asked.

A brave staff member, a receptionist, spat on the floor and said, "You think you can rob a bank and get away with it? Go kill yourselves!"  
Paul responded by knocking the receptionist unconscious, causing the other staff members to gasp. "Shut up!" Paul ordered.

Darko repeated his question. "Who has the vault key?"

One of the staff members replied, "Me…me. I have…have the key."

"No tricks, or we'll put bullets in your body," Johnny warned. "Come on now, we haven't got all day."

Leading the two Assassins to the vault door, the staff member unlocked it for them. The second he had done so, Darko knocked him out.

Stacks of various currencies were laid out on a large metal table in the middle of the vault. Darko and Johnny stuffed a bit of each currency into their backpacks. Instead of the stereotypical heist crew who used duffle bags to store their loot, the Assassin heist team used backpacks as they provided more mobility.

Once all three backpacks had been filled up, the two Assassins left the vault and returned to Paul, passing him one of the backpacks.

Rather than leaving the bank through the front door, which would be plain suicide, Darko, Johnny and Paul left through the roof, where they traversed the rooftops to get to the rendezvous point.

"Thought you all would never come," George said as he started the engine of the truck.

Closing the passenger door, Darko told him, "Let's go, George."

Seconds later, policemen burst through the main entrance into the bank. To their surprise, they found only the captured staff members and not the robbers.

Driving to the neighbouring town of Schaan, where Darko had purchased a small property, the Assassin heist team unloaded their cargo into the apartment unit. But the job was not done yet. The Assassins sat down and counted their earnings.

"One thousand five hundred US dollars, two thousand French francs, two thousand Spanish peseta, a thousand British pounds and four thousand Swiss francs," Darko said. "Not a bad sum. Keep the Swiss francs, the rest of the money send it to our allies in the respective countries."

Templars had been alerted to their funds being stolen, first ten thousand Swiss francs taken from the late Sakon Takamatsu and now the Grand Bank of Zudav in Liechtenstein.

Grandmaster of the Spanish Templars, Prime Minister of Spain Miguel de Rivera, was perturbed when he heard the news. They were losing a lot of funds, and lesser funds meant a harder time controlling his populace.

"Must be that Darko Kerzhakov and his friends behind all this," de Rivera said. "After so many setbacks, he does not give up. That I must hand it to him. But let's see how long his perseverance will last. Find his whereabouts as soon as possible and report it to me."

"Yes, sir," three elite Templar henchmen said in unison before hurrying out of the room. They had work to do.

Darko knew he was being followed. They were always in his peripheral vision, gone when he turned around to look. That confirmed that the men tailing him were trained and not just any Tom, Dick and Henry.

"Templar men," Paul told Darko. "Who else could it be?"

He nodded in agreement. "Get Assassins to take out my stalkers, but do so discreetly. We'll make it a decision those Templars will regret."

"Sir…" the same three henchmen said as they entered de Rivera's office several days later. "The men we sent after Darko Kerzhakov, they're dead."

"Crafty bastard," Miguel swore as he slammed a fist on his desk, stunning the men. "Where were their bodies found?"

"In Liechtenstein, sir. Less than a street away from the Grand Bank of Zudav," a henchman informed. "We suspect that their bodies were moved."

"Obviously. Stupid as they are, the Assassins will not dare to go so near the bank, especially so soon after the heist," de Rivera sighed. "Leave them alone for now, they've done well enough to earn a short rest. They'll definitely need it."


	18. Chapter 18

The third and last Templar target listed in the leather-bound book was a vineyard owned by a branch of the Lévesque family, which had produced Templars since the Third Crusade. The vineyard was located in the French department of Jura, a wine-growing region.

Making his way to the particular vineyard, Darko learned that the vineyard, owned by an entire family of Lévesques, produced one of the finest Savagnin grapes in France.

Émile Lévesque, the eldest member looking after the vineyard, greeted Darko as he entered. "Welcome to the Lévesque vineyard, producing one of the finest Savagnin grapes in France! May I help you?"

"Prime Minister de Rivera wanted to send word to you that Assassins might be coming your way soon," Darko lied. "In particular my kinsman Darko Kerzhakov."

"That Assassin has been a bane to us for years now," Émile spat. "How I would love to kill him with my own hands and bring glory to the Lévesque family!"

"If you could do that, Grandmaster de Rivera would be certainly pleased," Darko said. "Pleased enough to earn you the title of Master Templar."

"An incentive, I see," Émile smiled, admiring the intelligence of the Templar Grandmaster. "Very well, my family and I will try our best to get it done."

"A word of advice, monsieur Lévesque, do not underestimate the Assassins sent after you. They are well-trained, a match for even the best of Templars," Darko told him. "Be prepared."

Nodding, Émile walked up to Darko. "You seem rather familiar. Has de Rivera sent you here before? Or have I seen you somewhere else?"  
While the Templar was still thinking, Darko sprung and thrust his Hidden Blade into Émile, killing him instantly. Throwing his body onto the floor, Darko went on to massacre the rest of the Lévesques in the vineyard. It was not much of a challenge, though they were decently trained and properly armed, because they were taken by surprise.

Burying the Templars' bodies, Darko realised it was dark by the time he was done. He decided to spend the night there in the vineyard, before returning to Switzerland the next day.

Seeing that the vineyard was a potential income source for the Assassins, Darko left the grapes alone, only taking the stack of money in a safe which he had lockpicked.

To make sure that happened, Darko travelled to Paris to contact the French Brotherhood there. Nikolai Kerzhakov, Darko's older brother, was there when he arrived.

"Why are you here, brother? What do you require?" Nikolai asked.

Darko explained the situation to him.

"A vineyard, hmm? That certainly would be a good source of income to us," Nikolai said. "I'll get word to the French Assassin council. Thank you, Darko."

Back in Switzerland, Darko learned that nearly the entire cell of Assassins in Lucerne had been captured by Templars in the dead of the night. Johnny Guvera, who was the leader of that cell, was the only one who managed to escape.

"I believe the Templars let me escape on purpose," Johnny said. "More than once I was sure I was spotted by them, but it appeared that they didn't see me. My guess is that they wanted someone to live and tell the tale."

"Sounds like they're out to lure us, trap us even," Darko deduced. "But let's wait for further developments."

That evening, a body was found dead in the city of Lucerne, with the words 'Troyes' carved onto his body. The man was found in nothing but his underwear, with nothing on him to prove his identity.

"One of our Assassins," Johnny recognised the dead man in the Autochrome on the newspaper. "It's one of them from Lucerne."

"Troyes was the place where the Templar Order was founded," Paul said. "The Templars carved it on probably because they wanted us to know it was their doing."

"Fair point," Darko agreed, before freezing for a short moment. "Wait, Paul. Go out and find every establishment with the name Troyes in it here in Lucerne. If not, try the entire canton."

By the next evening, Paul had returned with results. "Only one establishment in the whole canton has the word 'Troyes' in its name, and it's right here in Lucerne. La Troyes Café, less than a five minute walk from the Kapellbrücke."  
Eight Assassins rushed into La Troyes Café, led by Darko, Paul and Johnny. Fanning out across the place, the three leading Assassins drew pistols and aimed them at the three staff members in the café.

"Took you long enough," one of the staff members, who was also the eldest out of all the staff, said coolly. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Master Templar Wilhelm von Matt, pleased to make your acquaintance. Do you think I'll be so easily defeated? How else do you think I've lived for so long?"

On cue, Paul turned and shot Darko in the stomach. Wilhelm grinned. "By the way, his name isn't even Paul Celtis. It's Siegfried Viret."

"Bastard," Johnny raised his shotgun, wanting to shoot and kill 'Paul' but as if on cue, ten policemen rushed into the café.

"Arrest those hooded men!" a police Captain ordered.


	19. Chapter 19

Subsequently, all Assassins except for Siegfried were captured and thrown into prison. Darko and Johnny, both of whom were considered as high-value prisoners, were sent to a secret prison in the Swiss Alps, near the Matterhorn, owned by Italy, which was also now bustling with Templars.

The temperature in and around the prison was cold all year around, though luckily the prison had heating. Darko and Johnny's cells were decently furnished, though the floor was bare and cold. The entire secret prison was heavily-guarded, making escape near-impossible.

For months Darko and Johnny were in the prison without any contact with the outside world. Then, in early August of 1924, something happened.

Pietro Badoglio of Italy, a man in his fifties, visited the secret prison. He had just been promoted to Chief of Staff, and was one of the most powerful men in Fascist Italy. To prevent prisoners from escaping and compromising Pietro's security, more guards were brought into the prison.

Darko and Johnny saw as Pietro passed by, flanked by four Italian soldiers. He stopped outside Darko's cell, looking at him.

"This man catches my attention. Why is he here?" Pietro asked.

A prison warden, who was walking beside Pietro, replied, "Terrible crimes, signor Badoglio. This man threatened the fragile peace here in Europe. Thus he and a comrade of his were thrown into prison."

"Yes, yes. I remember hearing of that. His comrade would be Johnny Guvera, a Spaniard, no?"

"Indeed, signor Badoglio. His name is Johnny Guvera. Allow us to continue the tour, signor," the warden said.

Once the group had left, Darko thought about what had happened. While they were talking, Darko had noticed that Pietro had been tapping casually on the cell bars, though it was far from casual tapping. In truth, Pietro was tapping in Morse code.

"Friend of the Assassins," Darko finally decoded the message after several seconds.

A few nights later, Pietro Badoglio was long gone, and Darko was sleeping in his cell. Being a light sleeper, Darko was awoken by sounds coming from his cell door.

Just as he gained focus, the cell door swung open and two Assassins entered the room. English Assassins, to be precise.

"Mister Kerzhakov, you're safe now," an Assassin assured him. "Do you have any weapon on you?"

Darko shook his head. The second Assassin then took out a Hidden Blade and gave it to him. "It's yours, sir. We retrieved it from the armoury."

Leaving the cell, Darko saw that two more Assassins were leading Johnny, whose cell was adjacent to his, out. Darko recognised one of them as Nikolai Kerzhakov.

"Brother, what are you doing here?"

"I'll explain everything once we get out of here," Nikolai said. "Come, we must find the others."

Soon the alarm went off, though it was already too late. The Assassins had rendezvoused in the prison's garage and were leaving through several prison vehicles.

"Let me guess, Pietro Badoglio," Darko said as he fired a pistol backwards, in the direction of their pursuers.

Nikolai turned the steering wheel rapidly, just in time to escape from driving off a cliff. "Yeah, an Assassin ally! Apparently he and Frank go way back, all the way to the colonial wars in Libya!"

Eventually, the Assassins drove into an airfield with a few airplanes on standby. Abandoning the cars, they got into the airplane.

"George, what the hell?" Darko and Johnny were equally surprised.

"Get ready for departure," George said. "It's going to be a bumpy flight, so strap yourselves in."

Landing in Switzerland, the large group of Assassins gathered in Darko's house in Bern, which had surprisingly remained unconquered by the Templars.

"Pietro sent word to essentially every Assassin in Europe that you and Johnny were imprisoned there after his visit," Nikolai revealed. "We had nearly an entire platoon of Assassins involved in this operation. You didn't see it, but there were some more Assassins on standby, ready to reinforce if needed."

"The Great War revived," Johnny joked. "But why are you here, Nikolai? Why were you chosen by the English Assassins?"

"Frank Gatti's down with cancer, he doesn't have much longer to live," Nikolai sighed. "His dying wish is to see me back in Italy, helming the Italian Assassins. Frank also thinks that you are one of the few that can help with that, hence he pushed for me being part of the operation."

"After some investigation, Pietro concludes that Sardinia is the safest place for the Italian Assassins to be located at," Nikolai informed. "We're thinking of Cagliari, capital of Sardinia."

Apparently, Johnny had been to Cagliari before. "Make it an Assassin resort, for Assassins all over the world to go and relax. Facing the Poetto, enjoying the sea breeze, sipping a glass of cocktail."

"Tempting, Johnny," Nikolai smiled. "There are quite a number of resorts and hotels in Cagliari. If we established one the Templars wouldn't even bat an eyelid."

"Reserve a room for me," Johnny said.

George helped them to get back on-topic. "The Swiss Assassins have been weakened for months, since your capture. Templar influence is slowly but surely regaining in the country. As the leader of the Swiss Assassins, you must put a stop to it."

"And get revenge on that bastard," Johnny snarled. "What was his real name? Siegfried Viret, that's a name I'll keep with me for the rest of my life."

Darko told Nikolai and George, "When you return to your respective countries, send word to find the whereabouts of Siegfried Viret, aka Paul Celtis."

"I don't get it, what do you mean? Wasn't Paul captured with the rest of you?" George was puzzled.

Johnny explained, "Paul Celtis, real name Sigfried Viret, has been secretly working for the Templars all this while. He betrayed us in a standoff at La Troyes Café and shot Darko here in the stomach."

"That bullet left a scar here," Darko lifted his shirt, revealing a stomach scar. "He will pay for betraying the Assassins."


	20. Chapter 20

Word spread fast within the Assassin Order. By mid-September not only had Siegfried's whereabouts been discovered, he had also been murdered. Siegfried was found to be living in New York City under a different alias. Coincidentally, his business was under the protection of the D'Aquila family, which Carlo worked for.

It was all a matter of pulling some strings and connections and soon Siegfried was killed. His body was found floating in the Hudson River days after his death, badly decomposed.

As a token of appreciation, Darko sent a sum of five thousand US dollars to Carlo, expressing his heartfelt thanks. If there was one thing Darko hated more than Templars, it was Assassin turncoats.

In the meantime, the Swiss Assassins had been restored to their former glory, with Darko in the charge of taking out Templars that had surfaced across Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Also, the Swiss Assassins had made allies within the Swiss government, in exchange for their protection. After all, the Interwar Period was not as peaceful as one might have thought.

Now that the Swiss Assassins power had been stabilised, Darko decided to help out with the re-establishment of the Italian Assassins, who were greatly weakened with the rise of fascism and Templars in Italy.

Most, if not all of the remaining Italian Assassins had made their way to Sardinia, where they rebuilt their Order, setting up bases all over the island. Nikolai had even purchased a resort in Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, using it as the new base of operations for the Italian Assassins.

"Sardinia might have the least number of Templars in the whole of Italy, but that's still a considerable amount of them," Nikolai said. "Even here in Cagliari there's a few Templars around. The bulk of them the others can handle, but there's one or two Templars that you should take care of yourself."

"Who are they?" Darko asked.

Nikolai handed him two gelatin-silver print. Frank Gatti recognised the person in one of the prints and said, "That's Benedict de Bourbon, a French member of the royal house of Bourbon. He's a minor member of the Regional Council here, if I'm not wrong, as well as a Templar."

"That is correct," Nikolai said. "The second man here is Alessandro Fermi, a retired professor of Paris University. Now he spends his time enjoying his retirement."

Alessandro, who was in his late fifties, was fishing just a few kilometres off Cagliari, on a modest-sized fishing boat.

His attention was caught by a motorboat approaching him. Alessandro waved at the man on the motorboat, a calm-looking man approaching his thirties. As Alessandro waved at the man cheerfully, Darko shot a Phantom Blade at him. Alessandro slumped against the side of the boat.

"The Assassins send their regards," Darko said as he got on the fishing boat, retrieving his Phantom Blade and throwing the dying Alessandro into the sea.

It was time to make it look like a mishap. Bringing over a jerry can of petroleum from the motorboat, Darko empties its contents on the fishing boat. One can was just enough to cover the whole of it.

Producing a matchstick, Darko lit it and threw it at the fishing boat from the relative safety of the motorboat. Once he was satisfied with the way the fire was escalating, Darko left.

That evening, it was just another day of work to Benedict. Leaving his office, Benedict got into his Citroën Type B2 and began the drive home, which was nearly forty-five minutes from Cagliari.

On the road, Benedict saw a tramp lying on the road. He barely had enough time to stop the car.

"Please get out of the way!" Benedict said angrily as he stepped out of the car.

"My…my apologies, signor," the tramp said, attempting to get up from the ground and move away from the road.

Benedict sighed. "Come, come, I'll help you."

"Thank…thank you so much, signor. May you be bless…blessed for eternity," the tramp bowed.

As Benedict pulled the tramp up from the ground, the tramp produced some sort of weapon and stabbed him in the chest.

"Hidd…Hidden Blade," Benedict fell to the ground, clutching his chest. "Assassin!"

Putting away his Hidden Blade, the tramp, actually Darko, smiled. "As the French would say, au revoir, monsieur de Bourbon."

Dumping his body into the back of the Citroën, Darko got into the car and drove in the direction where the car had come from. He eventually drove the Citroën Type B2 into the sea east of Cagliari.

On the very same day, two men, with seemingly no relations to one another, had mysteriously vanished. The first, Alessandro Fermi, was reported by the newspapers to be a retired university professor while the second was Benedict de Bourbon, a low-ranked member of the local Regional Council, who had been last seen leaving his office the previous evening.

"Well done, Darko," Nikolai praised. "You indeed are my younger brother. But our strength and influence here is far from stable. You must go to the city of Sassari in the north, and aid our brothers there. You should find is Professor Domenico Thaon, who works at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sassari."


	21. Chapter 21

Domenico was a man with greying and balding hair, though only being in his late forties. He was well-mannered and careful with what he said, and had the posture of a well-off man.

"You must be Darko Kerzhakov. Please, come in," Domenico gestured inside his office. "Excuse the mess I've created in here, it's quite natural for a professor to do so."

"No worries," Darko said as he sat on a plump cushion chair. "My brother sent me here to aid you and your comrades here in Sassari."

"Sassari at the moment is occupied by a considerable amount of Templars. Big enough to cause interference to our activities in Sassari if we Assassins were to attempt an expansion of power and influence here," Domenico explained. "I'll give you a list of them to take out."

Learning that Geedi was looking for business partners, Darko decided to seize that opportunity and kill him. Forging a résumé as a wealthy businessman from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, or unofficially as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Darko managed to gain an audience with the Templar.

It was arranged that Darko would meet Geedi in the latter's Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, where Geedi's chauffer would drive them around Sassari as the two of them chatted.

"Pleased to meet you," Geedi said as Darko entered the Rolls-Royce. "Your résumé is outstanding and I am keen to work with you."

"The feeling is mutual, Mister Fontano," Darko said. "Unfortunately, I am no businessman, and neither am I here to work with you."

Before Geedi could utter a word, Darko thrust his Hidden Blade into the Somali's heart, killing him instantly. The chauffeur was not very surprised to see what Darko had done. "Luckily this isn't my car, if not it would have cost me a bomb to clean it."

Several hours earlier, Domenico had secretly arranged for Geedi's original chauffeur to be swapped with this one, who had been paid to help out in this assassination.

Driving into an alleyway, the chauffeur stopped the car there and the two of them got out. Retrieving a jerry can of gasoline from the boot, the chauffeur proceeded to dump its contents over the vehicle.

Producing a packet of cigarettes, the chauffer took out a pack of cigarettes, lighting the entire packet before throwing it onto the car.

"Pleasure to be doing business with you," the chauffer said as both of them walked briskly out of the alleyway. "Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Not long after, Darko struck again. His next target was a Police Lieutenant working in Sassari, a Templar as well. The Lieutenant's nickname was translated as 'The Lawbringer', since he was so good at bringing criminals to justice.

Darko tailed The Lawbringer as he left the police station for lunch break. He could tell that The Lawbringer sensed that someone was following, though no one was there when he turned around.

When the officer turned into an alleyway, Darko immediately took to the rooftops, guessing that his target would attempt to catch him there.

After several more minutes of tailing, The Lawbringer finally reached his destination, a small eatery. Darko waited patiently on the rooftop for his target to come out and return to the police station.

As he walked through the same alleyway, heading back to the police station, Darko attacked the Police Lieutenant by pouncing on him from above. In one quick slash his target was dead.

Over the next few days Darko took out several more Templars on the piece of paper which Domenico had given him. Now only one Templar remained on the list.

La Fantôme de Sardaigne was a French Templar both revered and feared by the people of Sardinia. He was a master thief whose identity was unknown to most, though Darko knew who he was. La Fantôme de Sardaigne was a French Assassin turncoat named Michel Renan. He was now in his forties, and was a high-ranking member of the Templar Order. Darko knew that Michel would be difficult to kill.

Fortunately, Domenico had received information on Michel. Michel's temporary lodging was at a small hotel, booked under the name of Mahieu Renardo.

Disguised as Carabinieri soldiers, Darko and Domenico made their way to the hotel 'Mahieu' was staying at, making sure he was not there before they entered.

"Hello, may I help you?" the receptionist asked nervously.

Darko said, "Is there a Mahieu Renardo staying at this hotel?"

Flipping through a book, the receptionist nodded.

"Mahieu Renardo died today in an accident. We have come on the behalf of his family to collect his belongings," Domenico lied.

The receptionist lowered his head. "I am terribly sorry to hear that. I'll lead you two to his room."

Once they were inside, Darko and Domenico began searching the room. Almost instantly they found a locked safe. While Domenico worked on getting the safe open, Darko searched the rest of the room.

"Not much," Darko said as he returned to Domenico. "What's in the safe?"

Domenico took a step back and showed Darko what was in the safe, which he had managed to open. Several things were inside the safe, including a wad of cash and a number of passports. But the main item of interest was a small notebook.

"It says here that Michel is planning to carry out a robbery about now," Domenico informed. "Let's wait for him here, shall we?"

When Michel walked into the hotel, he found that the receptionist had changed. His face was one that he had never seen before, which made him slightly uneasy.

"Hello, where are the others?" Michel said as he carried a duffle bag over his shoulder.

"I'm just standing in temporarily," Domenico, who was pretending to be the receptionist, lied. "The one that's supposed to be here right now called in sick. They pay pretty well here anyway, to do nearly nothing at that."

Upon opening the door into his room, Michel felt himself being grabbed and dragged into the room. In less than a second, Michel was pulled into the hotel room and the door was once again shut.

Pinning Michel on the floor, Darko slammed his head once on it, which was enough to knock him out. Relieving Michel of his duffle bag, Darko brought it over and placed it on the desk.

Moments later, Domenico entered the room as well. Together they opened up the duffle bag. Inside were a few stacks of cash, which took up roughly half the space in it. Zipping back close the duffle bag, Domenico said, "We can put the money to good use, better than what Michel could have ever done with it."

With their combined strength, the two Assassins carried Michel over to the window and threw him out. The fall was enough to kill the Templar.

Going back downstairs, the two of them 'discovered' the receptionist tied and gagged. Freeing him, Darko stuffed an amount of two hundred thousand lira, approximately ten thousand U.S. dollars.

"Get as far away from Sassari as possible," Darko told him. "You are not safe here. Anywhere is fine, as long as you get off the island of Sardinia."

Understanding what the two men were driving at, the receptionist took the money and got the hell out of there.

With a significant amount of Templar power removed, the Assassins were able to expand their influence in Sassari easier now. But unfortunately, it was not time for Darko to settle down, yet.

His comrades in New York City were having some trouble hunting down the Templars on Vladimir Lenin's list of Templars, which Darko had sent there. Thus, Darko set off for New York City to aid his fellow Assassins.


	22. Chapter 22

The Assassins in New York City were led by Carlo Gambino, who was now a pretty powerful gangster working for Joe Masseria, boss of the Morello crime family. Joe Masseria was known in the underworld as 'the man who could dodge bullets', from an assassination attempt that had occurred in 1922.

Carlo rented out an apartment unit in Little Italy to Darko. That portion of Little Italy was under Morello crime family, and Darko's temporary residence would remain quite safe.

"A fellow Assassin has been kidnapped by Templars, coincidentally rivals of the Morellos," Carlo informed. "The Assassin in question I'm certain that you'll recognise her name. She is Malenkaya Romanova, real birth name Anastasia Nikolaevna, the last of the imperial family of Russia."

With the help of the legendary Nikolai Orelov, the Grand Duchess had escaped execution and had fled to the United States, where she was now the nightclub owner of a place called the Harlem Harem.

"What do her kidnappers want?" Darko asked.

"They want two hundred thousand U.S. dollars, to be delivered at a rendezvous at the Bronx," Carlo replied. "Exactly where the kidnappers will reveal at a nearer date."

On the date itself, Carlo went to the rendezvous at the Bronx. Darko was following from behind, making sure he was not seen by anyone, though Carlo knew that Darko was following along.

The rendezvous location was a small park in the Bronx. Several moments after Carlo showed up at the park, three Essex cars pulled up and eleven mobsters made their way into the park, two of them dragging their captive, Malenkaya, along.

Darko ran into the park after them and saw that a fight had broken out inside. Knowing that he and Carlo would not be able to finish off all of them, Darko made his way to the two mobsters guarding Malenkaya and killed them.

Handing her a dagger, Darko said, "Help Carlo. He won't be able to fend them off for much longer."

Together, the three Assassins finished off the attackers and fled in one of the cars.

At the Harlem Harem, Malenkaya told them the identities of her kidnappers, which she had learned during her captivity.

"They're part of the Hasta La Vistas, a Spanish gang that earns money mostly through assassinations," Malenkaya revealed. "They have strong ties with the Templar Order, and should be eliminated ASAP."

It was well-known in the underworld that the Hasta La Vistas owned a speakeasy in the basement of a suburban house on Staten Island. The speakeasy was well-known as it had many measures uncommonly seen in other speakeasies, such as multiple exits and ventilation shafts disguised as AC units. Thus, it was one of the most popular speakeasies in the entire state.

Dressed as partygoers, Carlo and Darko entered the speakeasy and began smashing alcohol bottles on the floor, albeit slowly. Sounds like that were heard in almost every speakeasy nearly daily, so few would even bat an eyelid if it was done periodically and not all at once.

Ten minutes later, once enough alcohol had been spread, Carlo produced a lighter, lit it and threw it at a spot of alcohol. Since alcohol was highly flammable, the fire spread swiftly.

Most, if not all would make it out alive, but the alcohol would not. The fire would incur losses for the Hasta La Vistas, more so because alcohol prices were rising due to the ongoing Prohibition.

The Assassins were not satisfied yet. In their opinion, it was not enough to cause significant damage to the Hasta La Vistas. Fortunately, the Assassins knew that the Templar-allied gang had a counterfeit money factory in Long Island City, as well as a weapons cache in a warehouse in the DUMBO district of Brooklyn. While Carlo led the first team of Morello mobsters to attack the warehouse, Darko led a second team of gangsters to bring down the small factory in Long Island City.

Darko's team consisted of himself and three Morello mobsters, all of whom were equipped with Tommy Guns. While the mobsters all had 50-round drums attached to their Model 1921 Thompsons, Darko's had a 30-round magazine, as it was lighter and suited him better. All of them also had duffle bags to carry the counterfeiting machines. Why destroy them if they could use it for their own profit?

The strike team went in with their guns blazing, taking out the night guard at the factory. As they placed the counterfeiting machines into their duffle bags, they heard sirens in the distance, getting louder by the second.

"Shit, let's get out of here!" Darko told his teammates. "The cops, they're coming!"

Leaving the factory through a back door, the four men made their way to the nearest subway station. Policemen were cordoning off the area and the subway was one of their few remaining options for escape.

Policemen were hot on their heels as they ran into the subway station. Subway guards also opened fire on them, and Darko had no choice but to aid his teammates in getting rid of them.

"Shit, there're no trains!" one of the mobsters informed. "They're not going to stop at this station!"

"Get on the subway, we'll run a few stations," Darko said to the others. "Hurry, before the police catch up."

His trick worked, and the group got out of the subway several stations down. From there, they took two separate cabs back to their operations base, which was the Harlem Harem. By then Carlo and his team had already returned to the nightclub.

"What took you guys so long?" Carlo asked. "Anyway, let's sit down and count our earnings."

As Darko propped his duffle bag on the table, he said, "We had to use the subway to shake the cops off. And not on the train, but by walking down the track for a few stations."

Darko and his team of mobsters had also taken some counterfeit cash from the factory along with the equipment. Carlo was contented with all their loot. "Masseria's going to be real happy with what we've gotten tonight. A plus also as we got all these from those turds."

"But Carlo, the Hasta La Vistas won't go down unless their leaders are killed, you know that very well," Darko said. "We shouldn't stay at this for too long. They must die."

 **A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!**


End file.
